Storm Pounds North Slope

Anchorage Daily News
Posted September 12, 2003

A fall storm raked North Slope coastal communities for several days this week, threatening roads and homes with powerful winds and beach-eroding waves and sending maintenance crews into overdrive.

The tempest sent bulldozers into the surf in Barrow to shore up a temporary seawall Tuesday and Wednesday, while the wind and cold stymied efforts in Wainwright to protect the fragile ocean bluff with sand bags.

In other words, "a typical fall storm," said Gina Sturm of the National Weather Service in Barrow.

This week's blow, which featured 45-mph gusts and 12-foot breakers, was more fierce than average. But it was far from a record-breaker, and damage was minimal in Barrow, she said.

"Compared to past storms, it was fairly minor," Sturm said.

Weather observers had predicted the storm after watching a strong low-pressure zone build over the Arctic Ocean several hundred miles north of Barrow. When it started moving earlier this week, Sturm said, "It was a well-wound spring."

By the time it reached Alaska's northernmost city Monday, westerly winds were 30 mph and building, she said. Because the sea ice is farther offshore than normal, the long stretch of open water allowed waves to build as high as 12 feet.

The storm peaked late Tuesday, slacked off, then slammed into Barrow again early Thursday, Sturm said.

For much of the year, sea ice protects Barrow's beaches and bluffs from storm-driven waves off the Arctic Ocean. But during the ice-free months of summer, the North Slope Borough builds a temporary seawall out of beach gravel to protect the waterfront, said Rob Elkins of the borough's risk management office.

The berm, which had been pummeled by high winds and waves earlier this summer, required additional maintenance work during the latest storm to prevent the ocean from threatening Stevenson Street, one of Barrow's main thoroughfares, Elkins said. Bulldozer operators worked in the surf, pushing gravel to replenish the berm, almost nonstop from Monday through Wednesday night, he said.

It's all considered routine maintenance at the top of the world, Elkins said. "You can bank on one decent sized (storm) every summer."

The storm spared Prudhoe Bay, which is east of Barrow, said BP (Alaska) Exploration spokesman Daren Beaudo. A spokesman in Kaktovik, even farther east, said the winds were light.

Wainwright wasn't so lucky. The storm hit the Inupiat Eskimo village about 100 miles south of Barrow on the Arctic Ocean last week, said Joseph Ahmaogak of the Wainwright search and rescue team.

"It's been beating on our coast for almost a week now," Ahmaogak said Wednesday. First came high winds and snow, then several days of rain, then more snow, hail and 40-mph winds.

The village of 500 sits on a bluff some 20 feet high. Wainwright has already moved houses once because of erosion, Ahmaogak said, and residents try to protect the bluff with enormous sand bags 6 feet wide, 10 feet long and several feet thick. They fill the bags and haul them into place with a backhoe, he said.

But this week's storm has been so fierce, "the sand baggers aren't able to get on the beach. The only thing they can do now is wait for the storm to subside," Ahmaogak said Thursday.

This is the worst storm in 10 years, he said, with whiteout conditions and 30-degree temperatures.

September usually sees westerly winds, "but nothing that lasted this long and with this cold weather. It's been crazy for the past week," he said. "Everybody's getting tired of staying indoors. We should be out hunting caribou, fall fishing, hunting bearded seals."

Not everybody in Wainwright has been pinned down. Ida Panik said the storm hasn't slowed down her 10-year-old son and grandchildren. They're happy to play outside, she said with a laugh. "It's not like a winter storm where we can't see anything. It's just a strong west wind."

By Thursday afternoon the storm was dying down, Panik said. Still, she hadn't ventured out to look over the beach damage. Storms often erode and undercut the bluff, and the only way to know is to drop down onto the shore.

"Nobody has walked down the beach yet," Panik said. "It's still not safe."

Anchorage Daily News

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