ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Gov. Tony Knowles has declared a disaster emergency for south-central Alaska after the state's worst avalanches in decades stranded thousands of residents, cut power and killed a highway worker.
A federal designation would position the region for federal loans and other relief as government officials prepare to survey the area.Knowles did not cite an overall damage amount in his disaster declaration, but specifically mentioned areas such as the Prince William Sound city of Cordova, where an avalanche last week caused $2.6 million in damage.
This week's massive snowslides south of Anchorage closed the Seward Highway, stranding thousands of residents and travelers and cutting power to a number of tiny communities on the Kenai Peninsula, a rugged, triangle-shaped land mass that juts into the Gulf of Alaska.
The 127-mile Seward Highway is the only road between the peninsula and Anchorage.
Joe Perkins, the state's transportation commissioner, said roads connecting the mainland to the Kenai Peninsula could be opened by Friday, though a storm expected there may hamper road-clearing efforts.
Restoring power could take longer, he said, with five power-line breaks between the towns of Seward and the ski resort town of Girdwood, 40 miles south of Anchorage. "It's going to take them some time to fix that," he said.
The extreme avalanche conditions have been caused by heavy snowfall, followed by rising temperatures. Anchorage, which normally gets about nine inches of snow in January, was buried under 34 inches last month, and temperatures during the past week have been in the 30s.