Flooding on the coast of Alaska
2022.09.17 19:56
Flooding on the coast of Alaska
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – The National Weather Service reports that remnants of the former typhoon Merbok flooded Alaska’s western coast on Saturday, bringing high waves and wind gusts of up to 60 mph that pushed rising sea waters inland, knocking some houses in Nome off their foundations, as the storm moved north through the Bering Sea.
The typhoon formed in the second week of September over the northwest Pacific, but as it moves closer to land, it has transformed into a powerful rainstorm.
According to NWS forecasters, the “potentially historic” storm may cause the worst damage to the Alaska coast in 50 years.
For the affected communities, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy declared a disaster. He stated that as of Saturday afternoon, no injuries had been reported.
At this time, no official estimates of the storm’s damage were available.
According to Reuters, Don Moore, a meteorologist with the NWS Alaska, seawater reached the runway of the airport in Nome.
Moore stated, “Southwest Alaska is seeing the worst of it.” Wind gusts are ripping up seawalls and dumping all that water onto the shore, flooding Nome, Golovin, and the Northern Sound.
In some areas of Alaska, the storm is only expected to bring an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain over the next day or two. Moore stated
