As of Wednesday, eight and a half inches of rain had fallen in Petersburg from a strong storm that drenched the region starting on Monday.
“We’re seeing real heavy rainfall amounts all across the panhandle,” said Jonathan Suk, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau. “I know that some locations have set all-time records for the days, for 24 hours. We’re still sorting through that trying to come up with all those numbers but we are in the process of doing that and it’s looking like a very wet and unfortunately eventful storm system coming through as we also are seeing a lot of landslides, mudslides and flooding across the area.”
The stream gauge at Falls Creek about 10 miles south of Petersburg set a new record at 24.28 feet Tuesday afternoon, rising over flood stage and up to the level of the bridge abutment on Mitkof Highway before dropping Wednesday.
Residents reported flooding in ditches and yards.
Flooding is reported throughout the region, with damage to homes and roads as well. What’s called an atmospheric river is bringing moisture from the Pacific as far south as California and dumping that water on Southeast Alaska. The rain is expected to continue into the weekend as well.
