The breakup front stopped just downstream of Stevens Village during the late morning hours on the 9th, and solid ice was in place where the river stops braiding and entering the canyon below Stevens Village. Due to the extreme flooding that was experienced upriver in Eagle on May 4-6, 2009, nearly the entire village was evacuated by plane to Fairbanks prior to the onset of the flood.
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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.
The breakup front stopped just downstream of Stevens Village during the late morning hours on the 9th, and solid ice was in place where the river stops braiding and entering the canyon below Stevens Village. Due to the extreme flooding that was experienced upriver in Eagle on May 4-6, 2009, nearly the entire village was evacuated by plane to Fairbanks prior to the onset of the flood. The water levels rose over 20 feet during the night of the 8th into the morning of the 9th. Water levels continued to rise rapidly during the afternoon of the 9th, and by approximately 5 pm the road along the river at Stevens Village began to flood. The water levels continued to rise during the evening and into the morning hours of the 10th. By the early morning hours on the 10th, there was widespread flooding in town with water up to the highest house in town. Only the school and approximately 5 houses in the village were spared by the flood waters, and most homes sustained major flood damage. In total, 3 homes were destroyed and 31 homes had major damage. All power and phone service to the village was compromised by the flooding. Homes along the river received a significant amount of ice damage, and the ice knocked down all utility poles along the river front. The road that runs from the village to the airport sustained significant damage in several places and was impassable. The water levels crested at approximately 5am on the 11th, and then began to recede, but the water did not go below bankfull until the afternoon or evening of the 12th. 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 9, 1:07 PM AKST, 2 hours 53 minutes earlier.
NORTHERN ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FAIRBANKS AK 207 PM AKDT SAT MAY 9 2009 .DISCUSSION... THE MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT THROUGH MONDAY WITH HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER THE BERING SEA BOTH ALOFT AND AT THE SURFACE. PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS...SPECIFICALLY IN THE INTERIOR...VARIES WIDELY FROM MODEL TO MODEL WITH THE GFS EXHIBITING LARGER AMOUNTS AND COVERAGE THAN DOES THE NAM MODEL. WE WILL FOLLOW THE NAM GUIDANCE. THE WEST COAST WILL CONTINUE TO SEE LOW STRATUS AND AREAS OF FOG ALONG THE COAST WHILE INLAND EXPECT LITTLE PRECIPITATION AND MILD CONDITIONS. THESE CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST THROUGH MONDAY AS THE RIDGE SHOWS LITTLE MOVEMENT. THE INTERIOR WILL HAVE LITTLE IF ANY PRECIPITATION THROUGH SUNDAY...THEN MONDAY A FEW SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP. TEMPERATURES WILL COOL AGAIN BY MID-WEEK AS NORTHWEST FLOW FROM RIDGE INCREASES WITH STRONG RIDGE TO THE WEST. THE NORTH SLOPE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE PATCHY FOG AND FLURRIES THIS EVENING...EXCEPT THE WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE ARCTIC COAST WITH SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS AS A RESULT OF WARM AIR ADVECTION. THIS AREA OF SNOW SHOWERS WILL MOVE EAST AND BE OVER THE CENTRAL ARCTIC COAST BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. NORTHWEST WINDS NEAR BARROW WILL SWITCH TO THE SOUTHEAST BY MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. TEMPERATURES WILL MODERATE AS THE COOL AIR OF RECENT DAYS MOVES EAST INTO NORTHWEST CANADA. && .FIRE WEATHER...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM THIS EVENING IN ZONES 221-222-223. THIS IS DUE TO WINDS TO 25 MPH AND LOW HUMIDITIES. RH VALUES WILL REBOUND TONIGHT ENDING THE WARNING. && .HYDROLOGY...THE YUKON RIVER BREAK UP CONTINUES TO BE THE MAIN CONCERN FROM FORT YUKON TO THE THE DALTON HIGHWAY BRIDGE. THE WATER AT STEVENS VILLAGE HAS COME UP DRAMATICALLY IN RECENT HOURS INCREASING THE POSSIBILITY OF FLOODING THERE WHILE THE RIVER NEAR BEAVER HAS FALLEN AND FLOODING THERE IS NOT EXPECTED. ICE FLOWING DOWN FROM THE PORCUPINE RIVER INTO THE YUKON RIVER MAY ALSO CAUSE PROBLEMS...ESPECIALLY FOR FORT YUKON...AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED. FLOOD WARNING AT RUBY AND THE WATCH FOR THE BUCKLAND RIVER AT BUCKLAND CONTINUE. THE WATCH FOR THE KUSKO RIVER AT MCGRATH ...AKZ227...IS EXPECTED TO BE CANCELED SOON...THE WATER LEVELS THERE HAVE DIMINISHED CONSIDERABLY. && .AFG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... RED FLAG WARNING FOR AKZ221-AKZ222-AKZ223. FLOOD WARNING FOR AKZ220-AKZ216. FLOOD WATCH FOR AKZ210-AKZ227. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR PKZ210. BRISK WIND ADVISORY FOR PKZ220-PKZ225-PKZ230. && RL 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: 163400.