Waves and whitecaps are clearly seen even from a high altitude, as shown from this aerial photo of Eldlred Rock.
Strong winds from Friday night through early Sunday morning, with gusts recorded up to 66 miles per hour, grounded planes, knocked trees down and caused at least seven intermittent power outages throughout the weekend and Tuesday.
The weekend’s winds uprooted trees that eventually fell and caused additional outages throughout the day Tuesday. As of Wednesday afternoon, Haines was running on diesel power due to an equipment malfunction at the hydro station in Skagway associated with the outages.
“We had quite a few more issues,” AP&T operations manager Lance Caldwell said of Tuesday’s four outages. “Ninety-five percent of them were tree related. I know a lot of people were thinking ‘why’ when the winds died. The wind uprooted a bunch of them. They were cliffhangers and eventually they went on over.”
Caldwell said contractors removed about 20 trees near the Johnson Creek line, a transmission line that connects to Haines and Skagway. Over the weekend, strong winds damaged the line and blew trees into it, causing power to trip.
“(Most of) Haines was back on in a matter of about 18 minutes,” Caldwell said of the weekend’s outages. “Lutak was out for several hours. (The Johnson Creek Crossing) line has the main line between Skagway and Haines, and the line that feeds all of Lutak.”
The power went out while American Bald Eagle Festival banquet attendees were square dancing at Harriett Hall. The outage didn’t stop the band, the caller and the dancers, organizer Katelyn Dickerson said. Personal light sources and candles on the tables made for an intimate evening. “The band played through and people continued to dance,” Dickerson said. “People had headlamps on and turned their cellphone flashlights on.”
Lutak resident Richard Buck said both power outages interrupted his evening reading time. He dug out the old propane lights he and his wife used before Lutak had electrical service to resume his page turner. “I was reading about chickens. It’s a book from the library,” Buck said. “It’s a beautiful book written about the history and life of chickens.”
On Tuesday, the power went out during the Haines Borough Assembly meeting.
The diesel plant reestablished power to most Haines residents. AP&T crews were busy all weekend and Tuesday repairing the damaged line, clearing trees, reestablishing power to various lines across the borough, answering phone calls and monitoring equipment.
Lines also went down on Small Tracts Road and Beach Road.
“We’re still writing up all the reports,” Caldwell said Monday. “We have to do outage reports. There were so many this weekend we are trying to decipher.”
At least seven outages occurred since Friday, Caldwell said Wednesday.
The severe winds grounded Alaska Seaplanes flights on Saturday, forcing residents to take the week’s sole ferry to and from Juneau. The Alaska Marine Highway System reduced service to one ferry a week to and from Haines after unanticipated maintenance needs grounded ferries. Gov. Mike Dunleavy cut the ferry by 50 percent this year. Eleven people who planned to attend the banquet instead left on Saturday’s ferry to ensure they made it Juneau to catch their connecting flights.
Captain’s Choice Motel employee Suzanne Ashe said hotel guests planning a trip to Haines from Florida made it to Juneau before being turned back because of weather and the lack of ferry service. They returned to Florida without ever making it to Haines.