Wind disturbs power lines, little else

MAT-SU — High winds sent linemen scrambling this week to restore power to Valley homes.

Before the winds tapered off Wednesday, they were gusting up to 35 mph. The Mat-Su Borough also issued an air quality warning. By Thursday afternoon, the windy weather had also given way to overcast skies and snow.

According to Matanuska Electric Association, about 1,000 customers lost power during the storm. The longest outage was in Trapper Creek, where a few hundred customers didn’t have power Tuesday night and Wednesday into the afternoon.

“They kind of took the brunt of the wind damage up there,” said Wes Lindsey, an MEA spokesman. “We had reports that there were over 300 trees down.”

Lindsey said MEA’s crews were out all night working in the wind and that the area from Willow to Trapper Creek was the hardest hit. The power company’s Facebook page indicates there were scattered outages, including many along Knik-Goose Bay Road. As of Wednesday, he said, all of the outages had been fixed. MEA maintains an outage hotline. When the lights go off in the future, call 746-POWR.

State Department of Transportation spokesman Rick Feller said the wind took out one stoplight at the corner of Shennum and the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

“We had some damage to a corner light there and it’s been repaired, and that’s about the extent of damage from this relatively mild windstorm,” he said Thursday afternoon.

Central Mat-Su Fire Department likewise had no wind-related activity. Deputy Fire Chief Michael Keenan said other departments, from what he heard, had a few trees on power lines.

“I don’t think we had one call associated with the wind. We were pretty quiet, surprisingly,” Keenan said. “Normally, we’re running like crazy, but not this time for some reason — knock on wood.”

Over at the Palmer Police Department, Cmdr. Tom Remaley said the wind didn’t cause his department any trouble.

“I think we had one false alarm because of the wind,” he said, meaning that rattling windows tripped a burglar alarm.

But just because Tuesday and Wednesday went off without a hitch doesn’t mean there won’t be any trouble.

“The big wind is supposed to be coming tonight,” Remaley said Thursday.

The National Weather Service predicted as of Thursday afternoon that the winds would be returning that evening in the Matanuska Valley. In the Susitna Valley, meanwhile, the weather service predicts four to 10 inches of snow north of Talkeetna and one to four inches elsewhere.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.