A flood of historic proportions began in Eagle along the Yukon River around 2 am on the morning of the 4th. In the week leading up to the flood, temperatures were unseasonably warm as a strong ridge of high pressure developed along the Alaska-Yukon border on April 27th and persisted until May 3rd.
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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.
The episode as NWS AFG wrote it up.
A flood of historic proportions began in Eagle along the Yukon River around 2 am on the morning of the 4th. In the week leading up to the flood, temperatures were unseasonably warm as a strong ridge of high pressure developed along the Alaska-Yukon border on April 27th and persisted until May 3rd. In fact, record high temperatures were either tied or broken on the 4 days preceding the flood. The record warmth caused side streams to fill the river channel before the ice on the river broke apart. When it finally broke, it created large chunks of ice, some the size of small houses that jammed together and created dams of water as the ice jam shifted and broke apart during the next two days. The ice was unusually thick in the Eagle area, and up to 7 feet in some locations along the river. By noon on the 4th, the old village of Eagle was flooded with water halfway up most houses, and some houses had water up to their roofs. Parts of Eagle were flooded with water over Front Street. By the evening of the 4th, the water rose an additional 4 to 5 feet and pushed ice over the retaining wall into Front Street and buildings. By the afternoon on the 5th, homes in the old village of Eagle were completely destroyed by ice, and in other areas in Eagle the water and ice was to the second story of homes. A business that was constructed to be more than 10 feet above the previous high water mark of 1937 was less than one foot above the water. At around midnight, the water came up further and ice smashed all structures along Front Street, and some buildings were lifted off their foundations and either moved or floated down river and were destroyed. On the night of the 6th, the water levels dropped about 30 feet and the worst of the flooding was over. In total, 26 homes were destroyed, and there were 7 homes with major damage.
There were no serious injuries or deaths reported as a result of the flooding, but by the time the flooding was over it caused the worst flooding on record to the community of Eagle. The damage estimates for this event include the costs to repair and replace homes that were damaged and destroyed as well as costs to repair and replace public infrastructure and equipment.
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 3, 2:31 PM AKST, 9 hours 59 minutes earlier.
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 331 PM AKDT SUN MAY 3 2009 .SYNOPSIS... THE STRONG 500 MB RIDGE OVER MAINLAND ALASKA IS STARTING TO BREAK DOWN AS A SHORT WAVE TROUGH NOW OVER THE WESTERN CHUKCHI SEA MAKES ITS WAY INTO NORTHWEST ALASKA ON MON...INTO THE WESTERN INTERIOR ON TUE... AND INTO THE CENTRAL INTERIOR ON WED. THIS MEANS THE HEAT WAVE IS NOW ENDING AND CONDITIONS WILL TURN MORE SEASONAL MON AND TUE AND REMAIN SEASONAL THROUGH THE WEEK. A THERMAL TROUGH FROM NORTHWAY CANTWELL WILL PERSIST THROUGH MON THEN MOVE SOUTH OF THE ALASKA RANGE TUE. THERE MAY BE ISOLATED HIGH BASED CONVECTION ALONG THIS FEATURE BUT EXPECT NOTHING MORE THAN VIRGA AT GROUND LEVEL. MODELS ALL SEEM TO OVER DO THE PRECIPITATION WITH THIS FEATURE. AN ARCTIC FRONT FROM EAGLE TO GALENA TO HOOPER BAY WILL MOVE TO EAGLE TO DENALI TO BETHEL BY 4PM MON...AND TO EAGLE TO DENALI TO KING SALMON ON TUE. THERE IS SIGNIFICANT COLD ADVECTION WITH THE COLD FRONT AND HIGHS TEMPERATURES WILL COOL 15 DEGREES WITH THE FRONTAL PASSAGE. THE AIRMASS IS VERY DRY SO DONT EXPECT ANY PRECIPITATION WITH THE ARCTIC FRONT. NORTHEAST WINDS 10-20 MPH AND A FEW AFTERNOON AND EVENING GUSTS TO 25 MPH ARE NOW OCCURRING WITH THE COLD FRONT BUT WILL WEAKEN SLIGHTLY MON AS THE FRONT WEAKENS. && .DISCUSSION... MODELS INITIALIZE WELL WITH MOST FIELDS. EXCEPTION IS THE 850 MB TEMPERATURES OVER FAIRBANKS WHICH INITIALIZE SEVERAL DEGREES TOO COOL. THE GFS AND ECMF SHOW STRONGER COLD AIR ADVECTION OVER THE INTERIOR TONIGHT AND MONDAY THAN THE NAM. CURRENT OBSERVATIONS ALONG THE SOUTH SLOPES OF THE BROOKS RANGE AND NORTHERN INTERIOR SHOW A 10-15 DEGREE F DROP FROM SAT AND FAVOR THE STRONGER CAA SHOWN BY THE GFS. && .FIRE WEATHER... OCCASIONAL GUSTS TO 25 MPH ALONG THE ARCTIC FRONT IN THE NORTHERN INTERIOR NOW WILL DECREASE TONIGHT AS THE FRONT WEAKENS. && .HYDROLOGY... RAPID SNOW MELT IS STILL CAUSING HIGH WATER IN ZONE 222. THE CHENA REMAINS ABOVE MINOR FLOOD STAGE UPSTREAM OF FAIRBANKS AND WILL THROUGH MON. THERE IS STILL SOME POTENTIAL FOR ICE JAM FLOODING ON THE TANANA RIVER AND CHATANIKA RIVERS...AS WELL AS ON SMALL STREAMS IN THE AREA. THE COOLING TEMPERATURES MON SHOULD HELP EASE THE FLOOD POTENTIAL. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WATCH FOR AKZ222. && JB MAY 09
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alaska in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Alaska, May 2009
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: 158425.