Name: Coastal Flood in Alaska, September 13 to 14, 2007
Start: 2007-09-13T19:00
End: 2007-09-14T03:00
Location: Alaska

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
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.

A low in the central Bering Sea earlier in the week began to weaken but move north to Saint Lawrence Island. This created southeast to south winds around 26 knots (30 mph) with gusts as high as 40 knots (46 mph) resulting in strong wave action and shore erosion on the ocean side of the village of Kivalina. The sea wall was breached and damaged in 3 places by this event. No other damage to structures occurred. Damage amount not available. 280 residents were evacuated from the village on the evening of the 12th; they were returned to the village on the 14th. The remaining 50 villagers who remained reinforced the damaged seawall and a newly eroded section of shoreline north of the seawall. This event put at risk a set of fuel tanks holding 233,710 gallons of diesel fuel for the village.

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 Sep 13, 8:32 AM AKST, 10 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 13, 8:32 AM AKST, 10 hours 28 minutes before

NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK
232 PM ADT THU SEP 13 2007

.DISCUSSION...THE LOW IN THE BERING STRAIT IS IN THE PROCESS OF
WEAKENING AND MOVING INTO THE CHUKCHI SEA BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN
THAT IT IS FINISHED CAUSING PROBLEMS FOR THE WEST COAST...WINDS HAVE
SHIFTED TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST ALONG THE WEST COAST. SOUTHERLY
FLOW WILL CONTINUE ALONG THE WEST COAST THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND
GRADUALLY WEAKEN...UNTIL EARLY NEXT WEEK WHEN THE NEXT BIG STORM
ENTERS THE BERING SEA.

THE LONG WAVE PATTERN DOES NOT LOOK LIKE IT IS GOING TO CHANGE
MUCH IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE...THIS IS NOT GOOD NEWS FOR THE WEST
COAST...AN OMNIPRESENT RIDGE OVER THE EASTERN INTERIOR/YUKON WILL
DEFLECT ANY STORM SYSTEMS INTO THE BERING SEA AND UP ALONG THE
WEST COAST. NEXT WEEK LOOKS TO BE VERY ACTIVE FOR THE WEST COAST.

NOME IS REPORTING NO ADDITIONAL DAMAGE TODAY IN OR AROUND NOME.
D.O.T. WORK DONE ON THE NOME-COUNCIL ROAD YESTERDAY PREVENTED ANY
ADDITIONAL DAMAGE FROM OCCURRING. WITH SURGE AND WINDS DECREASING
IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT ANY THREAT TO NOME HAS PASSED.

GOLOVIN HAS SUSTAINED WINDS OUT THE THE SOUTH AT AROUND 35 MPH.
THE VILLAGE HAS HAD OVER 12 HOURS OF SOUTHERLY WINDS IN EXCESS OF
30 MPH...HIGH TIDE HAS COME AND GONE AND THE DIKE THAT WAS BUILD
THIS SUMMER HAS HELD. LOOKS LIKE IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN 5 FEET OF
WATER TO FLOOD THE VILLAGE FROM NOW ON.

KOTZEBUE IS REPORTING A DEFINITE SHIFT IN WAVE ACTION FROM FLAT TO
A DEVELOPING SOUTHERLY FETCH. THIS SHOULD BEGIN TO AFFECT KIVALINA
BY THIS EVENING...THIS DEVELOPING FETCH ALONG WITH THE WIND
DIRECTION SHIFTING TO THE SOUTH SHOULD BEGIN TO BRING WATER UP
INTO THE VILLAGE THIS EVENING. SINCE IT ONLY TAKES TWO FEET TO
CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR THE VILLAGE...THE COASTAL FLOOD WARNING HAS
BEEN EXTENDED INTO FRIDAY AFTERNOON. WINDS WILL STAY OUT OF THE
SOUTH THROUGH THE DAY ON FRIDAY AND CONTINUE TO BRING WATER AND
WAVES ONSHORE.

INTERIOR...A LOW WILL MOVE INTO THE GULF OF ALASKA ON FRIDAY
AFTERNOON AND WILL MOVE ONSHORE NEAR YAKUTAT ON SATURDAY
AFTERNOON KICKING UP MOISTURE INTO THE EASTERN INTERIOR THIS
WEEKEND. 850 MB TEMPERATURES ARE RETURNING TO NORMAL AS WELL...
EXPECT COOLER TEMPERATURES FOR THE INTERIOR.

COASTAL HAZARD POTENTIAL DAYS 3 AND 4...NONE

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL REMAIN ABOVE 40 PERCENT
AND SOUTHERLY FLOW HAS WEAKENED.

&&

.HYDROLOGY...NONE.

&&

.AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
COASTAL FLOOD WARNING FOR AKZ207 BETWEEN CAPE KRUSENSTERN AND CAPE
THOMPSON UNTIL 4PM FRIDAY.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ200-PKZ210-PKZ215-PKZ220-PKZ225-
PKZ230.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS FOR PKZ235-PKZ240-PKZ245.
&&

KS SEP 07

Event by event

1 coastal flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Coastal Flood, Chukchi Sea Coast

When: September 13, 7:00 PM AKST to September 14, 3:00 AM AKST
Where: Chukchi Sea Coast forecast zone
Reported by: Newspaper

What these are

Coastal Flood: Flooding of coastal land by the sea, from storm surge, onshore wind or high tides.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alaska in 2007 Every state in 2007 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, September 2007

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: 60834.