Flooding along the Chena and Tanana rivers inundated 95 percent of Fairbanks and forced 12,000 people to be evacuated from their homes. In August 1989, more than 5 inches of rain fell in the Anchorage area, causing flooding of homes and businesses along Campbell, Chester, and Ship creeks.
Flooding can cause extensive property damage and be a major inconvenience.
Fortunately, the most common floods in Alaska, which are caused by late summer and early fall rains, can be predicted. The National Weather Service and the Alaska Division of Emergency Services operates a flood-forecasting network in the most populated parts of Alaska. Other types of floods are less common, but more dangerous, because they are more difficult to predict. Floods caused by outbreaks of glacial-dammed lakes have occurred along several Alaskan rivers, including the Kenai River. When a lake, formed by part of a glacier acting as a dam, is released, the water level in downstream rivers will rise rapidly.