Flood in Taiya Inlet, Alaska

Moderate rain begin to fall over the Taiya River basin on Thursday July 3. The rain that fell primed the ground and raised the river level to near bankful stage. There was a short break in the rainfall intensity but then it increased through early Friday morning July 4 and persisted through the day before the front drifted east of the area by Friday evening. Rainfall amounts for the July 3 and 4 were two point three inches at Skagway, two in an half at Sheep Camp along the Chillkoot trail at an elevation of nine hundred and nineteen feet. The rain gauge at the Taiya River gauge reported one point seventy one inches. The freezing level were well above the mountain tops in the area so all the precipitation came down in the liquid form to help melt some of the snow left over from the winter to increase the runoff into the Taiya River basin.

The Taiya River began to rise steadily from the moderate to heavy rain along with the snow melt early Friday morning on July 4. The river crested at 17.5 feet by mid day of Friday and a half foot above moderate flood stage of 17.0 feet. Above 17.0 feet there is significant flooding along the Chillkoot trail within the The Klondike Gold Rush National Park with flood waters at least thigh deep in places along the trail. The Park Service may close the trail above moderate flood stage due to safety concerns from the high and swift water.

An upper level trough slide east over the far northern inner channels and produced moderate to heavy rain from July 3-4. Along with the rain there was warm temps that help to increase the snow melt at higher elevations.