FRIDAY THE 30TH: Massive earthquake rocks the Valley

MAT-SU — Roads cracked and buckled. Local students were sent home early. Businesses closed. And residents across the Valley sifted through mess in the hours after a massive earthquake rocked Southcentral Alaska Friday morning.

Experts say its Southcentral’s most significant seismic event since the Good Friday Earthquake, March 27,1964, delivering a brutal shake on Friday, Nov. 30. It hit at 8:29 a.m. Friday with a magnitude of 7.0. The epicenter was seven miles north of Anchorage, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center, with a depth of about 27 miles. Aftershocks continued throughout the day and into Saturday.

About 46,000 Matanuska Electric Association members were without power initially. Roads sustained damage throughout the Southcentral.

Saturday morning, Mat-Su Borough Manger John Moosey said state and borough officials are busy assessing the wide-spread damage in the Valley. Alaska Department of Transportation officials are alerting motorists, with warnings of prolonged delays on the Glenn Highway from the Valley to Anchorage. There is severe damage to multiple sections of the Glenn Highway after the earthquake, and the subsequent aftershocks. Traffic is currently being diverted at Eagle River and at the northbound access to Palmer at the Parks Highway and Glenn Highway interchange. There is also considerable damage to the highway in the Mirror Lake area.

Sections of the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Pittman Road, Point MacKenzie Road and Vine Road were also damaged. The worst is on Vine, where a stretch of the road buckled and is now impassable.

Moosey said the borough is waiting on a full report from the state.

Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration announced the immediate availability of $5 million, in what is described as “quick release emergency relief” to help fund the repair of Southcentral Alaska bridges and roadways. Friday, Gov. Bill Walker asked for a federal disaster declaration.

Mat-Su Borough School District schools remained opened initially after the quake hit. But district officials urged parents or guardians to pick up there children as soon as possible Friday.

“There will be no busses to deliver students home in the afternoon. All parents need to pick up children when able. Kids are warm and safe at school until parents arrive,” Mat-Su Borough School District Public Information Officer Jillian Morrissey said Friday at about 10:30 a.m.

According to district officials, structural engineers were at local schools Friday morning to access any damage. Houston Middle School was evacuated, and students and staff were moved to Houston High School, according to a post on the school district’s Facebook page.

Palmer High School was evacuated after the fire alarm sounded because of the earthquake, but there was no fire in the building, PHS principal Paul Reid said. The students were taken to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, down the road from Palmer High, which is part of school emergency protocol, Reid said. Reid said Palmer High closed early on Friday, and all of the students were out of the building by noon.

The Mat-Su Borough School District has announced that most of the schools in the district will be closed Monday and Tuesday. Only Glacier view, Trapper Creek Elementary, Talkeetna Elementary, Susitna Valley High School, Willow Elementary and Beryozova will remain open, according to a post on the district’s Facebook page. According to district officials, structural engineers were at local schools Friday morning to access any damage.

MEA initially reported about 46,000 members without power Friday morning, 35,000 in the Mat-Su Borough, but power was restored to most by about 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center Director of Marketing and Public Relations Alan Craft reported only minor damage at the hospital.

“No injuries to staff, no injuries to patients,” Craft said. “All safe.”

Craft said the hospital is prepared for the potential of an influx of patients should that occur.

“We are fully operational. Nothing has happened that is impeding our ability to care for patients,” Craft said.

Craft said the Mat-Su Urgent Care centers in Palmer and Settlers Bay are also open, fully operational and accepting patients.

Many local businesses were left with mess and damage following the earthquake. The Palmer Carrs/Safeway store was forced to close early on Friday. Friday afternoon, at the Wasilla Carrs/Safeway a crew was busy cleaning up broken glass after windows on the front of the building shattered. The store remained closed Saturday. The Wasilla Target was also closed on Saturday. Walmart was open, but certain departments were closed off for repairs. The Fred Meyer and Three Bears stores in the Valley were open Saturday.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Friday’s earthquake was one of 15 with a magnitude of at least 6.0 that hit within a 100-mile radius of the epicenter within the last century. This includes the Good Friday earthquake in 1964, that boasted a magnitude of 9.2.

Significant aftershocks were felt throughout Friday and Saturday. There was an earthquake of 4.6 at 3:44 a.m. Saturday, 25 miles southwest of Palmer with a depth of 15 feet. Friday evening there were quakes with magnitudes of 4.7, 5.1 and 5.2. According to a USGS report, there is potential for as many as 2,200 aftershocks, many with lower magnitudes.

In the hours after the earthquake Friday, Valley residents scrambled to stock up on supplies such as water and gasoline, as aftershocks continued to rattle the area. The city of Wasilla set up a relief center at the Menard Sports Center, with help from the American Red Cross. Food and drinks were available for those in need.

Just after 11 a.m., Michael Taylor was among a crowd of people at the Palmer Fred Meyer store. Taylor purchased several cases of water amid a horde of like-minded customers. He said that he has five kids and their well is working but he wanted to be prepared just in case. He said that his kids were "freaked out" at the onset of the quake but this day served as a good time to talk to them about emergency preparedness so they can start thinking about what to do during the next crisis.

"It's good for them. It's a firsthand learning experience," Taylor said.

At the Carrs/Safeway gas station in Palmer, John Stewart filled several gas cans in the bed of his truck amid a mass of vehicles lined up to do the same. He said that he was on his way to work in Anchorage when the earthquake hit.

"Normally you don't feel it in a moving vehicle but my truck shook pretty good,” Stewart said.

Stewart also had several cases of water in his truck bed. He said that he is going to share some gas with his neighbors who found out their generator was empty.

"We got power but you never know... Gas and water are what you need to survive," Stewart said.

Contact Frontiersman editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com. Frontiersman publisher Dennis Anderson, and Frontiersman reporters Tim Rockey and Jacob Mann contributed to this report.