Hannah’s first week in Anchorage is almost over, and with just over two weeks left to go word of a volcanic eruption in her area is spreading. In an e-mail forward she sent me form University of Alaska Anchorage, it reads:
Mount Redoubt
As Mt. Redoubt is showing signs of a potential eruption, we want to remind everyone of the appropriate safety precautions and the information resources available for the most up to date information. This afternoon the Alaska Volcano Observatory reports the following:
“Intermittent volcanic seismicity continues to be recorded at Redoubt. Volcanic unrest continues at Redoubt. Seismicity currently remains above background and the possibility of an eruption exists. AVO continues to monitor the volcano 24/7.” The watch alert is level orange.
UAA is open and operating today, January 28, 2009. In the event of changing conditions, updates via e-mail and the UAA website (www.uaa.alaska.edu) will be made.
Should the Redoubt eruption level change to red and the ash cloud is expected to impact Anchorage and the surrounding communities, UAA Facilities will shut down building air supply to prevent ash from moving through the ventilation system. Before leaving the office, please wrap or drape your electronic equipment with plastic bags after turning the equipment off. Plastic bags are available under the liners of most trash cans and barrels on campus. Please reuse the bags rather than discarding them…
The Office of Emergency Management issued the following safety precautions:
“If Anchorage is affected by an eruption the following basic health and safety measures should be followed.
1. Remain indoors during heavy ash fall periods;
2. Wear an N95 face mask when outdoors to reduce inhalation of ash particles. These dust masks can be purchased at most hardware stores;
3. As an alternative to a face mask, a wet cloth or bandana placed over the mouth and nose can help reduce exposure;
4. Contact lens wearers are advised to switch to eye glasses to reduce eye irritation from ash exposure;
5. Wear goggles for eye protection;
6. Wear long-sleeved shirts and gloves to protect skin; avoid bare skin contact with ash as much as possible.
So needless to say this news has made me a bit nervous about Hannah’s safety. Speaking with her on the phone that night, she and the class mates she is staying with are not to worried about it. I guess they have safety equment for breathing should this volcano decide to blow it’s top.
The next day I received the following e-mail forward from Hannah.
Dear UAA community:
We wanted to update you on the Redoubt volcano activity. As of 1:30 p.m, on January, 29, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported the following:
“We have no indications that an eruption has occurred or is underway, or expected in the next few hours. Seismicity at Redoubt remains above background levels, and relatively unchanged over the past few hours. AVO is currently staffed 24 hours per day to monitor Redoubt Volcano. The Aviation Color Code remains at ORANGE and the Volcano Alert Level remains at WATCH”
If Redoubt does erupt and the ash cloud is expected to impact Anchorage and the surrounding communities, we will notify you immediately. If the campus does close as a result of the eruption, the Campus Response Team will send out notification via e-mail, the UAA Web site and through our Voice Over IP phones across campus as soon as possible.
Up to date information sources:
NOAA Forecast Office:
http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/volcano.php
Alaska Volcano Observatory, Mt. Redoubt:
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.phpUp to date information sources:
Anchorage Emergency Conditions Information Line: 343-4701
Again, UAA is open and operating a normal schedule today, January 29, 2009. Please watch
the Web site (www.uaa.alaska.edu), your e-mail box…for campus closure information or status.
Sunday, Hannah left Juneau for Anchorage to take some nursing classes. Her folks came into town the day before she left. The nice thing was that the day she left for the north it as very sunny. Cold, but sunny. We were able to get some morning pictures taken before she left. After her folks and I dropped her off at the airport we took a trip to the Mendenhall Glacier. Mendenhall Lake was frozen over and we where able to walk across it to the actual glacier. It was really cool.
I was sitting in my office yesterday afternoon when the power went out. Living in Juneau you get used to that happening randomly. I soon learned after the power was restored that another avalanche, much like the one last year, took out a towers that provides Juneau it’s electricity from the Snettisham hydroelectric damn.
An avalanche took down the Snettisham transmission line Monday afternoon that supplies Juneau with electricity, presenting the possibility of another energy crisis.
It’s the second time in a year that an avalanche destroyed the line.
Monday’s avalanche occurred at around 1:40 p.m. south of the capital, knocking out one of the same structures destroyed during massive avalanches last April.
Last year’s disaster resulted in Juneau relying on costly backup diesel power for a month and a half, increasing utility costs for consumers and prompting residents to conserve electricity usage by one-third.
“We’re going to be down for some time so we need to ask the community to conserve again like they did last time,” Alaska Electric Light & Power Co. spokesman Scott Willis said.
After the company surveyed the damage Monday from a helicopter, Willis said it was too early to know how long it would take to repair the structure.
“Now that we see what condition the tower’s in, and the towers next to it, we can start to develop a plan,” Willis said. “I know everybody wants to know how long it’s going to take, but we’re just now getting into a plan. It’s going to be days certainly, weeks probably and I don’t know more than that.”
Power consumption fell about 30 percent in April after the rate changes were announced. Residents reported a wide range of adjustments to conserve electricity, from swapping out traditional light bulbs for high efficiency compact florescents to using a clothesline instead of a dryer to putting timers on water heaters.
Ken Burch, a Douglas resident who likened last year’s outage to “Juneau’s Hurricane Katrina” and tried to rally support for AEL&P to protect the rebuilt lines in a May letter to the editor, said he wasn’t surprised by the news Monday.
“They knew from the experience last spring this could happen. They’ve still chosen not to deal with it. It means we’ve got to keep pressure on them,” Burch said. “I’m not sure if they’ve learned yet. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me that this happened.”
Shana Sellers of Douglas was upset that the city would be in the same situation again.
“Why haven’t we done anything about it?” she asked. “Why haven’t we done anything to resolve this issue?”
Damage was done to a “three-pole structure” identified as No. 3-5, which consists of three separate towers the company considers one structure. Each tower holds one wire, or one phase, of the three-phase line that travels the approximately 40-mile distance from the Snettisham Hydroelectric Project to Juneau.
“Last year there were three different structures in three different locations that were damaged,” Willis said. “And this one, which was kind of in the middle, was the last spot that we were able to safely access. There was ongoing avalanche danger in this area more than the ones on either side.”
The repair last year cost more than $3 million.
“It will be much less than that this year, I think, but it depends on how much more difficult it will be in the wintertime and that sort of thing,” Willis said.
The weather is likely to hamper repair efforts because of the ongoing avalanche danger, he said.
“I think it’s going to be a more difficult job,” Willis said. “Now, the bright side is that it’s just one (structure), not three and diesel fuel is cheaper now that it was last spring.”
The town will continue to run on backup diesel generators at least for the coming days, Willis said. The company has a three-day supply it keeps in storage and was in contact with two oil companies about buying additional reserves in town.
As of late Monday afternoon, AEL&P had not yet discussed the likelihood of going to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to ask for an emergency Cost of Power Adjustment to increase rates for Juneau consumers.
Rates went up by about 450 percent last spring.
City Manager Rod Swope said it is still too early to see what, if anything, the city and Assembly can do to help offset potential energy cost increases for Juneau residents.
“We’ve been here before, and we’re here again,” Swope said at an Assembly meeting Monday night. “At least we have some experience in the situation.”
Willis told the Assembly that Anchorage consultants are flying to Juneau to look at possible temporary fixes.
Fortunately, Mendenhall Valley residents should be able to keep their wood stoves burning this week instead of using electric heat.
City Lands and Resource Manager Heather Marlow said it’s unlikely there will be a valley air emergency and burn ban.
“The forecast is rainy, storm cells coming through, mild winter temperatures – none of the factors that contribute to air problems in the valley. This week looks great,” Marlow said.
This morning on my drive into work I caught the tail end of a Day To Day, NPR news story on Aliza Sherman Risdahland and what it’s like to live in Tok Alaska with a temperature of 78 degrees below zero!
Day to Day, January 9, 2009· Right now it’s cold in Alaska. Really cold. In the town of Tok, it was 78 degrees below zero yesterday. Aliza Sherman Risdahl and her family moved to Tok two weeks ago. Noah Adams talks with Sherman Risdahl about how she’s coping with the extreme cold.
It’s been pretty intresting reading Aliza’s blog and her move to Tok and what life is like in such a cold town with a population of around 1,300.
Now that I have been back in Juneau for a couple of days, things are starting to settle back down into their normal routines. I was going through my receipts from our vacation last week and I came across this one from Lucky Jeans. It struck my funny bone so wanted to share it.
I was sitting in my office yesterday afternoon when the power went out. Living in Juneau you get used to that happening randomly. I soon learned after the power was restored that another avalanche, 
