At least four vehicle accidents reported
As the season’s first snow fell in town last week, four car accidents were reported to the Haines Borough Police, including a four-vehicle accident on Young Road. A car overturned on Third Avenue, another vehicle flipped on Small Tracts Road and there was a minor two-car collision on Main Street. No injuries were reported.
The accident on Young Road occurred at about 8:45 a.m. on Friday. “The road was extremely icy, and vehicles weren’t able to stop and they just started piling up,” said borough police sergeant Josh Dryden. There was no serious damage to vehicles or property. The roadway was cleared within about 30 minutes, according to the dispatcher’s report.
The single-vehicle accidents on Third Avenue and Small Tracts Road occurred at about 1:30 p.m. on Friday and 9:30 p.m. on Monday, respectively. There also was a minor collision of two cars at the intersection of Main Street and Second Avenue at about noon on Friday.
During snowstorms and tough winter driving conditions, Dryden advised, “If you don’t have to leave the house, stay put. Make sure your vehicle is prepared for Alaskan weather.”
National Weather Service observer Jim Green recorded 9.3 inches of snow in Haines between Thursday and Saturday mornings and 10.5 inches between Monday and Wednesday morning. “We had two pretty good snowfalls,” he said. The second storm started with lower temperatures and dry, powdery snow. But the wind shifted on Tuesday and the snow turned wet, eventually to rain.
Green noted some people might be worried about the stability of hillsides with all the precipitation. “This is sort of reminiscent of last December…but nowhere near the magnitude of that,” Green said. “It’s a little cooler so the snow level is not as high, so I don’t see it as anywhere in the league of last December.”
Temperatures are supposed to drop this weekend, and another storm is on the horizon for Sunday and Monday. “There’s no boredom in the weather this year,” Green said.
Technically, the season’s first snowfall was a trace on Nov. 9, Green said. Most people probably noticed first snow in town during the storm on Nov. 12.