Repairs made after stormy week

Last week saw high winds and stormy weather for many Southeast Alaskan

communities. In Haines, there was a landslide that led to several people going missing. According to the Associated Press, in an article on Dec, 7, two people still remain missing and there still is some danger of more landslides. Rainfall in Ketchikan led to a voluntary evacuation order being issued for residents along Ketchikan Creek due to potential dam failure. According to the Anchorage Daily News, in an article updated last Sunday morning, the voluntary evacuation order was cancelled.

While Wrangell did not face major incidents such as these last week, city workers were kept very busy responding to fallen trees and downed power lines. Rod Rhoades, with Municipal Light and Power, said his department was hard at work for the majority of last week.

"I think the only reprieve day we had was Monday," he said.

The wind and rain knocked over several trees, and took out power for many homes, especially out the highway. Throughout the week, Rhoades said his crews cleared eight fallen trees from power lines, replaced three transformers, and replaced over a dozen broken crossarms. The main areas that required work were around 7.5-mile, the 8-mile bluffs, 11.2-mile, and 11.75-mile. Last Tuesday night, at 11.2 mile, there was an asphalt fire caused by a downed power line, as it was knocked over by a tree.

"One of the phase conductors hit the ground and the system saw it as a normal load," Rhoades said. "Like a resistive heater ... the asphalt caught on fire."

Rhoades said they had to call SEAPA to cut power from their feeder, he said, and the Wrangell Fire Department put out the flame. His crew then got to work restoring the lines and power.

Rhoades said he believes this was an especially rough week for the city and his department, but they have gotten through it. As the storm has largely passed, and the weather will hopefully improve, he said that his department will be going around inspecting poles throughout this week to see if any will need repairs or replacement. A press release from the City and Borough of Wrangell announced a planned power outage along Zimovia Highway for Dec. 8, to address trees that are dangerously close to the power lines. Rhoades said, in a previous interview with the Sentinel that his department, and other city departments, all pulled together and worked hard through the storm, and thanked them for their work.

"All of WMLP employees worked heroically," he said. "Everybody just pulled together in a really heroic way."