The storm is travelling at 60mph and has reached the western Aleutian Islands, said Andy Brown, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Anchorage.
It could reach the beachfront city of Nome with winds hitting 85mph.
The storm is expected to produce a 10ft sea surge, forcing dozens of coastal communities to make emergency preparations. Mr Brown advised Bering Sea mariners and people living in coastal communities from Wales to Unalakleet to "prepare for a really nasty storm".
The last time forecasters saw anything similar was in 1974, when Nome also took the brunt of the storm. That surge measured more than 13ft, pushing beach driftwood above the level of the previous storm of its type in 1913.
The storm, described by Mr Brown as "big, deep, low", is taking an unusual path through the northern and eastern Bering Sea. Winds from the storm are expected to push large amounts of water into Norton Sound, raising sea levels 10ft above normal.
Making communities more vulnerable than in past years is the lack of shore-fast sea ice, said Jeff Osinsky, the National Weather Service's regional warning co-ordinator. "The presence of sea ice can sometimes act to protect coastal areas," he said.
The bigger concern will be for Alaska Natives in the 18 villages in the region. The village of Point Hope, which sits on the tip of a peninsula with the Arctic Ocean on one side and the Bering Sea on the other, is 7ft to 8ft above sea level, Mayor Steve Oomittuk said.
The Inupiat Eskimo village of about 700 people has no sea wall and no evacuation road. If evacuation becomes necessary, everyone will go to the school because it sits on higher ground and is big enough to accommodate everyone, he said.
Smaller communities that are vulnerable to storm erosion are of particular concern, especially the village of Kivalina, already one of the state's most threatened communities because of erosion.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment