Evacuations ordered as massive storm blasts Alaska
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Nov 9, 2011, 8:24:18 PM11/9/11
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Evacuations ordered as massive storm blasts Alaska
From correspondents in Los Angeles
AFP
November 10, 2011 10:31AM
RESIDENTS have been ordered to evacuate as a massive storm pounded the rural western coast of Alaska with hurricane-force gusts and severe coastal flooding, US meteorologists said.
The storm today, some 965-1287km across, was "record or near record", said Bob Fisher, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, adding that the storm threat had not yet reached its peak.
"There have been some mandatory evacuations of some very low-lying areas in Nome," a city near the far north-western tip of the US state, across the Bering Sea from Russia's Far East.
One entire village, Gullivan, east of Nome, has been evacuated to higher ground, he said, adding that winds were gusting up to 112.63km/h, and that the flood threat was set to peak later in the day at high tide.
"It's not over yet. At Nome we expect the highest water level to be this evening," he said, adding that water levels should start receding again after midnight (6pm AEDT) tomorrow.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the sparsely populated western coast, and Alaska's main population centres, including Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks, are far from the path of the storm.
Fisher added that the storm was probably the biggest since 1974, but it was difficult to compare - the current storm was unusual in that it was threatening land as well as sea.
"Lots of times these big storms stay out over the water," he said, adding: "It's a storm which would be experienced only very rarely in western and north-west Alaska.... Certainly this would probably be a near record or record event."
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/evacuations-as-record-storm-blasts-alaska/story-e6frfku0-1226191009330#ixzz1dGGdhc1a
Evacuations ordered as massive storm blasts Alaska
From correspondents in Los Angeles
AFP
November 10, 2011 10:31AM
RESIDENTS have been ordered to evacuate as a massive storm pounded the rural western coast of Alaska with hurricane-force gusts and severe coastal flooding, US meteorologists said.
The storm today, some 965-1287km across, was "record or near record", said Bob Fisher, a spokesman for the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, adding that the storm threat had not yet reached its peak.
"There have been some mandatory evacuations of some very low-lying areas in Nome," a city near the far north-western tip of the US state, across the Bering Sea from Russia's Far East.
One entire village, Gullivan, east of Nome, has been evacuated to higher ground, he said, adding that winds were gusting up to 112.63km/h, and that the flood threat was set to peak later in the day at high tide.
"It's not over yet. At Nome we expect the highest water level to be this evening," he said, adding that water levels should start receding again after midnight (6pm AEDT) tomorrow.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the sparsely populated western coast, and Alaska's main population centres, including Anchorage, Juneau and Fairbanks, are far from the path of the storm.
Fisher added that the storm was probably the biggest since 1974, but it was difficult to compare - the current storm was unusual in that it was threatening land as well as sea.
"Lots of times these big storms stay out over the water," he said, adding: "It's a storm which would be experienced only very rarely in western and north-west Alaska.... Certainly this would probably be a near record or record event."
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/evacuations-as-record-storm-blasts-alaska/story-e6frfku0-1226191009330#ixzz1dGGdhc1a
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