Name: Flood in Alaska, May 8 to 11, 2005
Start: 2005-05-08T09:00
End: 2005-05-11T03:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $14,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS AFG wrote it up.

An ice jam formed on the Buckland River, causing the river to inundate a portion of the village of Buckland - estimate seven homes were flooded up to four feet deep; these residents were evacuated. Damage amount is roughly estimated.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Fairbanks, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 8, 5:00 AM AST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 8, 5:00 AM AST, 4 hours before

NORTH ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
600 AM ADT SUN MAY 8 2005

.DISCUSSION...

UPPER AIR...HIGH PRESSURE RIDGING FROM CANADA WESTWARD OVER
NORTHERN ALASKA WILL PERSIST INTO LATE IN THE WEEK. THE HIGH WILL
BLOCK LOW PRESSURE SOUTH OF THE ALEUTIANS AND OVER RUSSIA FROM THE
FORECAST AREA. LOW PRESSURE OVER RUSSIA MAY BEGIN TO ROUND THE
RIDGE TO THE WEST OF WRANGEL ISLAND BY WED.

SURFACE...HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE ARCTIC OCEAN NORTH OF
THE STATE. THE CENTER OF THE HIGH WILL MOVE TO EAST OF MACKENZIE
BAY AT MID WEEK. LOW PRESSURE MAY DEVELOP NORTH OF BARROW THU IN
RESPONSE TO AN UPPER LEVEL LOW APPROACHING FROM THE WRANGEL ISLAND
AREA.

NORTH SLOPE...A FEW FLURRIES FROM BARROW WEST SHOULD END BY MON
MORNING AS AN OLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY DISSIPATES IN THE BUILDING
RIDGE OVER NORTHERN ALASKA. SURFACE HIGH OVER THE ARCTIC WILL
PRODUCE EAST WINDS WHICH COULD REACH ADVISORY LEVELS FOR THE
MARINE AREAS ON SUN. WINDS WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH SUN NIGHT AS THE
HIGH MOVES EAST.

WEST COAST...DENSE FOG ALONG THE BERING STRAIT IS EXPECTED TO END
BY 10 AM. SHOWERS WILL GRADUALLY COME TO AN END FROM SOUTH TO
NORTH TODAY AND TONIGHT. A FEW DAYS OF DRY WEATHER WILL FOLLOW AS
UPPER LEVEL HIGH BUILDS OVER NORTHERN ALASKA. WINDS WILL BE RATHER
LIGHT THROUGH MON BUT MAY BECOME BRISK OVER THE SAINT LAWRENCE
ISLAND MARINE AREA MON NIGHT AS LOW PRESSURE SOUTH OF THE
ALEUTIANS DEEPENS.

INTERIOR...HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE INTERIOR WILL PERSIST THIS WEEK.
THIS WILL MEAN DRY CONDITIONS BUT WITH RELATIVELY LIGHT WINDS.

.HYDRO...NONE.

.FIRE WEATHER...DRY CONDITIONS OVER THE INTERIOR WILL PRESENT A
FIRE DANGER FOR THE INTERIOR THIS WEEK. HOWEVER...WINDS ARE
EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW 20 MPH.

.AFG WATCH/WARNING/ADVISORIES...
PUBLIC...DENSE FOG ADVISORY ZONE 213 ST LAWRENCE ISLAND AND BERING
            STRAIT COAST
MARINE...BRISK WIND ADVISORY ZONE 210 CAPE LISBURNE TO CAPE
            HALKETT

DA MAY 05

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Nrn & Intr. Seward Peninsula

When: May 8, 9:00 AM AST to May 11, 3:00 AM AST
Where: Nrn & Intr. Seward Peninsula forecast zone
Property damage: $14,000
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, May 2005

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5449331.