The Kenai River has been running high ever since two glacier dammed lakes emptied into the river over the last few days. In the Kenai Keys subdivision near Sterling, the river is lapping at the doorsteps of the hundred or so homes that line the river. Longtime resident Frank Turpin said although he’s seen worse flooding, this one is significant. The road leading into the gated subdivision is flooded in numerous places although some vehicles can still make it through. Neighbors who live on higher ground have offered their yards for people wishing to store cars or other items until the waters recede.
Usually, the Snow Glacier and Skilak lakes release every two or three years. Both at the same time is unprecedented.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood advisory for Kenai Lake and the Kenai River near Cooper Landing.
“It was a beautiful event that we were lucky to have survived,” Andrew Hooper said.
“When I first started six years ago, icebergs like this were more common,” says a tour boat captain on the lake near Anchorage.
Sport fishermen are struggling to reel in the rainbow trout and Dolly Varden that usually are so abundant in fall.
A new study quantifies the rate at which Eklutna Glacier is losing its icy mass. Between 1957 and 2010, the loss of glacier mass averaged 5 percent a year.
The level of Eklutna Lake seems to be very low this winter. Over the long term, decline of the Eklutna Glacier is a concern for water and energy supply.
The victim, identified as 28-year-old Alexander Hellweger, was part of a group of eight friends from Italy and Belgium vacationing in Alaska.
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