Storm causes damage, but no injuries

Monday, March 21 2011

Unalaska, AK – While Unalaska received a heavy battering this weekend, no residents were injured by Saturday's storm.

Between 11:15am and 6pm, winds blew at speeds of 75 miles per hour. At the airport, a gust of 114 miles per hour were recorded, and an advisory was issued by the National Weather Service instructing locals to secure items due to the heavy winds.

Even though precautions were taken to limit destruction, a substantial amount of damage was recorded. A finger float at the small boat harbor was partially submerged, and a bunkhouse owned by Pacific Stevedoring also had to be evacuated before part of it collapsed on nearby cars.

"We've had multiple reports of vehicle windows getting broken from flying debris. A small shed was overturned near Alpha Welding up in the Valley. A satellite dish was damaged. A couple of dumpsters were overturned. A skiff came loose from a trailer on Choate Lane and landed on the side of the road. Some stop signs were damaged and blown down," says Sgt. Mke Holman, of the Unalaska Department of Public Safety.

The list of damage goes on.

"There was a raft picked up from a boat and flipped off. It was dangling off the boat, but it was tied on - that was the only thing that kept it from blowing anywhere. Some of the container vans were toppled over into the bay. Some of the siding was torn off of Margaret Bay bunk house. A wooden fence collapsed over at the Grand Aleutian Hotel," he adds.

However, compared to previous storms, the damage from this one was comparatively limited and infrastructure was not substantially impacted. The last time winds exceeded 100 miles per hour was in December of 2009, and they caused the APL crane to come down.

Right now, the cost of the damage is unknown.



News Community About Site by Joseph Redmon