Slides block roads to both Sitka hydro dams
- Daily Sitka Sentinel
- Jan 13
- 3 min read
By Anna Laffrey
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Record rainfall and warm temperatures coincided with a Friday afternoon avalanche that left rock, wood and other debris across a stretch of Green Lake Road, about a half-mile past the Medvejie hatchery.
The city-owned road has been closed to all non-essential travel until the road can be cleared. Debris is blocking travel outbound from the hatchery to the city's Green Lake hydroelectric dam and powerhouse.
Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association operations manager Adam Olson, who’s been with the hatchery association for 20 years, said the "debris flow" is not uncommon in the area.
“It’s been happening more frequently with the extreme weather conditions that we have seen,” Olson said today.
The National Weather Service reported that about 1.43 inches of rain fell at the Sitka airport on Friday, breaking the record for the date, which was 1.14 inches of rain on Jan 9, 1987. Meanwhile, temperatures topped out at 54 degrees Friday; which tied the record for the date, 54 degrees recorded on Jan. 9, 1978.
Olson said that Friday’s slide involved some snow, “but I would say that one was more of a debris type slide that could have been triggered by an avalanche.”
“It brought down a lot of rocky material and woody debris,” Olson said. “It’s a well-known previous debris flow and slide area.”
A thick layer of debris is covering an approximately 100-yard stretch of Green Lake Road, Olson said.
“There’s a lot more fine material on top there than we typically see in the area,” Olson said. “Nobody’s really been up to investigate the slide, but it seems like it took a lot of topsoil type material.”
City public relations director Melissa Lunas said the city electric department and contractors with K&E Alaska Inc. are “continuing to work toward clearing the road as weather permits.”
“We hope to have Green Lake Road cleared and reopened by the end of the week,” Lunas said, noting that another round of wind and rain is heading for Southeast this week.
Lunas said that the extent of the damage to Green Lake Road won’t be known until the cleanup efforts are underway.
The Friday slide came down about 10 days after slides carried debris across Blue Lake Road, which leads to the city's Blue Lake Dam and the U.S. Forest Service’s Sawmill Creek campground.
On Dec. 31 the Forest Service issued a safety alert asking people not to walk, bike or otherwise travel on Blue Lake Road. Avalanche clearing work was scheduled to begin Jan. 5 at the earliest, USFS said.
On Monday, Pacific Power Consulting's Anthony Bird posted an aerial video showing debris flow covering three distinct segments of Blue Lake Road.
Lunas said that K&E Alaska, Inc. is working to clear slide debris from Blue Lake Road, which is owned by the USFS and maintained by the city.
She noted that avalanches tend to fall each year in the same area of Blue Lake Road.
"These are more significant than typically experienced in the past," Lunas said.
USFS spokesperson Paul Robbins Jr. confirmed today that people should stay off of Blue Lake Road, as the USFS safety advisory remains in place.
"For road clearance updates, please contact the City of Sitka," Robbins said by email to the Sentinel.
• This story was originally published by the Daily Sitka Sentinel.
