Jan 28, 2014

Valdez Avalanche


The recent warm spell weakened the snow layers here in Alaska. In the narrow Keystone Canyon outside of Valdez, an massive avalanche buried the road under 100 feet of snow 1,000 feet long. The Lowe River has been blocked off and backed up into a lake where it used to be road.
Government officials and Valdez residents are worried about flash floods should the river break through the ice all at once and are monitoring the situation closely.
On a recent video posted to YouTube, you can see the destruction. At the 1:09 mark, you can see the water rushing into a tunnel. That tunnel is a partially completed railroad tunnel built in 1907 by the Guggenheim Syndicate. You can read more details about the colorful history (and a shoot out!!) here...

So here's the video of the avalanche. Again, the water entering the tunnel is evident at the 1:09 mark.


And here's a picture from a couple of years ago of me and my dad standing in that tunnel: