Flood — Taiya Inlet, Alaska

2015-08-18 to 2015-08-19 · near Skagway, Taiya Inlet, Alaska

Event narrative

Heavy rain moved over the area through the day on the 18th and the Taiya River began to rise significantly through the day as the moist weather front moved over Southeast Alaska. The freezing levels were very high and ample amount of moist as the front had sub-tropical characteristics. The river crested in the afternoon at a stage of seventeen point twenty seven feet. This was just over moderate flood stage of seventeen feet and it flooded the Chilkoot trail with knee to thigh deep water in places. The river was below minor flood stage by the early morning of the 19th.

Wider weather episode

A strong front moved through the Panhandle on the morning of Tuesday August 18th. This system had abundant amount of moisture associated with the cold front as the system originated from the North Pacific and was able to tap into tropical moisture. The front produced very heavy precipitation along coastal locations and prolonged moderate rain further inland. The heavy rain produced flooding over the Sitka area and in the Taiya River basin along the Chilkoot trail near Skagway. The strong winds that accompanied the front along with the very high rain fall rates caused several landslides along the central outer coast with three fatalities in Sitka. As the front moved through the inner channels there was a brief strong wind that occurred near Skagway.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (59.4929, -135.3392)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 600436. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.