SALON

Thursday, Sep 6, 2012 4:45 AM UTC

Wind storm knocks out power in Anchorage area

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Wind storm knocks out power in Anchorage areaDiana Patton stands near two trees that fell over in her front yard during a wind storm in Anchorage, Alaska, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. The storm knocked out power in parts of the city, uprooted trees and closed schools. (AP Photo/Rachel D'Oro) (Credit: AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An unseasonably early wind storm pummeled Alaska’s largest city and surrounding region, toppling scores of trees and leaving thousands without power for hours.

Some areas around Anchorage recorded hurricane-force winds, while winds in lower elevations were clocked in at 40 to 60 mph during the storm, which blew intensely between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service said.

The storm closed schools and delayed production of the Anchorage Daily News, whose Wednesday edition was not delivered to subscribers. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell said in a Facebook post that all nonessential state employees in the Anchorage area were not required to report to work Wednesday.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but there were lots of homeowners across the city lamenting the loss of their trees.

Diana Patton found out about her fallen mayday and birch trees on the front yard of her south Anchorage property when a neighbor called her late Tuesday night. The downed trees covered most of the road, but her son stopped by before work Wednesday to clear the street.

Patton later learned that her next-door neighbor had a tree fall on her house, which had some structural damage.

“Other than the fact that I lost my beautiful trees that I loved, I consider myself fortunate,” she said. “It could have been so much worse.”

Meteorologist Andy Dixon said the official highest recorded wind speed was 88 mph in Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage, but sensors in that area and other windier spots then quit working through much of the severe storm, so the winds are believed to be much stronger there than officially measured.

“The worst is definitely over,” he said, noting Anchorage would continue to see gusty winds, only far calmer.

The storm was unusual because it occurred in early fall, before the ground has frozen and while trees still have plenty of leaves, preventing winds from passing through bare branches, Dixon said.

Trees were breaking and falling all over the city, landing on power lines, cars, yards and homes, Anchorage police and fire officials said. Some trees that fell on power lines sparked tree and transformer fires, according to fire department spokesman Al Tamagni.

Altogether, fire department crews juggled 493 calls in the 12-hour period beginning Tuesday evening, he said.

Power outages affected thousands in Anchorage and other parts of south central Alaska.

One Anchorage electric utility, Municipal Light and Power, said power had been restored for most of its 30,000 residential and commercial customers. As many as 7,000 customers of Chugach Electric, however, remained without power Wednesday afternoon, KTUU reported. Calls to a Chugach representative were not immediately returned.

North of Anchorage in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, 1,500 customers of the Matanuska Electric Association were still without power Wednesday night.

To avoid the high winds during the storm, seven passenger jets were diverted to Fairbanks from Anchorage. Fairbanks International Airport spokeswoman Angie Spear told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that 740 unscheduled passengers were at the facility.

Several airlines had flown out of Fairbanks by early Wednesday morning. Alaska Airlines spokesman Paul McElroy said all passengers from his airline’s diverted flights had reached Anchorage by mid-afternoon Wednesday.

More Rachel D'oro.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
264 points265 points | 56 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
254 points255 points | 10 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the persecuted late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
193 points194 points | 1 comment
vote
Today in How Did I Miss This: Iowa GOP is pushing to cut the pay of the remaining Supreme Court Justices that voted for legalization of gay marriage.
73 points74 points | 7 comments
vote
Obstruction will ruin the GOP: Playing politics and abusing the system can excite the extremes, but it's a recipe for long-term political disaster
55 points56 points | 8 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations