Flood in Taiya Inlet, Alaska

The Taiya River continued to rise at a steep rate for 36 hours from the moderate rainfall. The river went above moderate flood stage of 17 feet in the late afternoon hours on September 27th and did not go below that threshold until the early morning of September 28th. The Chilkoot trail within the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park near Skagway Alaska was impacted by flooding along the lower portions of the trail. The river crested at a level of 17.59 feet and in doing so produced flood waters of knee deep or higher in places. In the morning hours of the 28th the National Park Service advised boaters and other recreational water based actives on the Taiya River to be suspended until the water level went down. The water levels receded through the day on the 28th and was below flood stage by the early afternoon.

A strong atmospheric river moved over Southeast Alaska from September 26th through the 28th. There was a long southwest fetch of subtropical moisture that was pointed at the region. This stream of moisture produced moderate to heavy rain over most of the area but there was moderate flooding along the Taiya River near Skagway and impacted the Chilkoot trail. The Taiya River rose about 4 feet and went above minor flood stage at 0600AKDT on September 27 and then above moderate flood stage at 0830AKDT. The river remained above flood stage until 1100AKDT on September 28th.

48 hour rain amounts for this event over the Skagway area and in the high elevations ranged from one and one half inches to two and one quarter inches in the headwaters of the Taiya River.