River Watch deploys to monitor river breakup and ice jam conditions

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF RICHARDSON — Each spring, the State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHS&EM) partners with the National Weather Service Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center (APRFC) to monitor major Alaskan river systems prone to ice jam flooding during the breakup season through a program called River Watch.

According to a recent press release, each River Watch Division has one DHS&EM Emergency Management Specialist, one APRFC hydrologist, and one local pilot with knowledge of the river.

River Watch teams fly over flood-prone areas to observe the ice breakup patterns to evaluate the flood potential to offer real-time updates to nearby communities. They typically land in these communities to brief conditions in person and assist communities with flood preparedness, providing flood alerts, watches, and warnings.

Emergency Management Specialists from the River Watch team arrive on the scene to support impacted communities in the event of flooding.

“For more than 40 years the River Watch program has provided early alert and warning to communities along Alaska’s ice jam-prone rivers. We provide people with the most current forecast information and are on hand to help them when it does flood,” DHS&EM Director Bryan Fisher stated in the press release. “The River Watch program succeeds because we are talking to and helping communities before, during, and after a flood event.”

According to the press release, the Kuskokwim and Upper Yukon River Watch divisions will fly the major river systems until the breakup flooding risk has passed.

Other divisions will visit the Middle Yukon, Lower Yukon, and Lower Kuskokwim sections of the river. They will deploy when ice movement and water flow show that ice jam flooding might occur and they can cover areas beyond the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, such as the Tanana, Kobuk, Buckland, and Porcupine as needed.

To access emergency preparedness information, visit ready.alaska.gov.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com