Hurricane-like winds hit Anchorage, Alaska Wednesday leaving the city and surrounding area with many toppled trees, and thousands without power. Winds of this nature is uncommon during this time of year. While some winds around Anchorage recorded hurricane winds, lower elevations recorded winds from 40 to 60 mph. Click below to read more.
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.
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.
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.
