More than 500 claims for assistance already filed in Mat-Su as power returns to homes and businesses

PALMER — The violent and prolonged New Year’s storm that wreaked destruction starting last weekend is over, though more wind is in the forecast.

Now it’s time to take stock.

More than 500 claims for individual assistance as authorized by the state’s emergency declaration had already been received by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough by Thursday, according to Ken Barkley, the borough’s emergency services director. Barkley said he would have more information about recovery and damage assessment early next week.

The borough and the Alaska National Guard on Thursday began driving around conducting “rapid windshield surveys” to catalog damage to businesses and public infrastructure around the Palmer and Wasilla areas. Those preliminary damage surveys to infrastructure and businesses will continue through Tuesday, Barkley said.

“These surveys will be taking place during daylight hours, and will require no information from local businesses, only a quick picture from the public roadway or parking lot of a business,” according to a borough update.

The borough asked private property owners to report their damage individually. The borough is providing a website to apply for state disaster assistance, but officials are asking residents to report damage first.

The storm damaged buildings, flipped airplanes and truck trailers, sent debris flying and left up to 22,000 households and businesses without power for long stretches of time with temperatures near zero.

Fewer than 100 households and businesses in Mat-Su remained without power by Thursday evening, according to Matanuska Electric Association.

[Repairs begin as power is restored for most wind-battered Mat-Su residents]

Significant damage remained around the region. MEA was working to clear trees from lines Thursday and asked anyone who saw trees on the lines in their area to notify the utility with location information and a photo if it was safe to take one.

All but six Mat-Su schools were closed through Friday by a combination of storm damage, dangerous conditions and staffing shortages. The district did not respond to requests Wednesday and Thursday for detailed information about damages.

A number of businesses around the Valley remained closed Thursday, with power just restored or significant damage including flooding from burst pipes.

The windstorm, described as one of the most significant “bora” events in decades by forecasters, began Saturday and ended as winds subsided Wednesday.

It included an 88 mph peak wind gust at Palmer’s airport Sunday evening, the fifth highest recorded since 1972 — and the other four, including one that hit 112 mph, all came on Dec. 23 1996, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Aviva Braun.

The agency on Thursday cautioned of more wind ahead for Palmer, Wasilla, Sutton and Chickaloon, though not to the same howling levels as last weekend and earlier in the week.

A special weather statement issued Thursday morning called for strong sustained northeast winds of 20 to 35 mph with gusts of 40 to 55 mph to return Friday afternoon and continue overnight before diminishing Saturday morning. It’s possible winds could increase again late Saturday afternoon before diminishing Sunday morning.

“It’s not going to be as strong as this last one,” Braun said. “It’s just we understand people are still in the cleanup stage. There’s still a lot of weak points out there. It’s just ill timing.”

Borough officials recommended commercial building owners have their HVAC inspected, and that homeowners have their chimney inspected if they think it’s been damaged.

A bora wind like the one that hammered the Valley occurs when extremely low temperatures settle over the Yukon and then the super-chilled air rushes down through valleys to the warmer Gulf of Alaska. This recent event ranked fourth or fifth in intensity for the region.

The highest official wind gust of the storm was 91 mph recorded Sunday near the Glenn and Parks highway interchange, and gusts in the 70 mph range continued Monday morning in the area.

But a few amateur weather observers took to social media to report unofficial gusts topping 100 mph. Some said their gauges broke when they hit about 90.

Braun said she’d heard rumors of 100-plus gusts in the Valley but none of those reports made it to the weather service through its online system.

“Unless it’s shared, it’s hard to verify,” she said.