Ice jams flood Alaska communities, hit buildings
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Ice jams caused flooding on Alaska’s Yukon River on Wednesday, inundating the city of Eagle while floating ice chunks the size of homes knocked several buildings off their foundations.
The stubborn ice jam on the Yukon River near Eagle kept water nearly 20 feet over the river’s flood levels, the National Weather Service said. The Yukon’s flood levels at Eagle, about 200 miles east of Fairbanks, was 34 feet.
Large pieces of ice on Tuesday crushed most of the buildings in Eagle Village, a tiny community east of the city of Eagle. In the city of Eagle, ice pushed over a retaining wall and against a row of buildings along Front Street, knocking at least four off their foundations.
Two of them, an old log cabin used as a storage shed and an old sauna, were carried down the river.
“The restaurant is floating around,” Jackie Helmer told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. “The store is there, but it has ice up to the roof. The bed and breakfast is still standing. It’s kind of cockeyed, but it’s still there.”
The National Park Service said about 10 homes in Eagle were damaged or destroyed and an estimated 30 of the area’s 125 residents were homeless. Officials said many damaged buildings cannot be salvaged.
James Savage, an incident commander with the National Park Service, said a safety officer reported Wednesday that much of Eagle smelled like a fuel tank farm, presumably from ruptured fuel and oil tanks.
Gov. Sarah Palin issued a disaster declaration for areas affected by the flooding, including the drainages of the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Kobus and Susitna rivers, providing easier access to state disaster relief funds.
The weather service said more water was expected to move downriver toward the community of Circle when the ice jam from Eagle releases. Jeremy Zidek, spokesman for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said rising water levels already were reported downstream at Fort Yukon, about 65 miles northwest of Circle.
A flood warning for communities near the river remained in effect until Saturday.
Information from: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, www.newsminer.com
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