Flood of October 1986 at Seward, Alaska
Jones SH and Zenone C. 1988. Flood of October 1986 at Seward, Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Investigations Report. 87-4278. US Geological Survey. Anchorage, AK
Broad areas along the lower Resurrection River and Salmon Creek as well as the surfaces of several adjacent alluvial fans in the Seward area were flooded as a result of the intensive rainstorm of October 9-11, 1986. Severe erosion tool place through the steep gradient, mountain canyons and near the apex of the fans, while rocl and debris were deposited on the distal parts of the fans. In Godwin, Lost, Box Canyon, Japanese, and Spruce Creek basins, and perhaps others, landslides or debris avalanches dammed the streams temporarily. Subsequent failur or overtopping of these dams led to serge-release flooding; peak discharge of such a flood at Spruce Creek was 13,600 cubic feet per second, four times as great as any previously known maximum discharge from the basin and 2.5 times as great as the runoff rate upstream from the debris dam. [exerpt from report]
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Jones, Stanley; Zenone, Chester
- Date of Issue
- 1988
- Publisher
- US Geological Survey
- Units
- KEFJ
- Keywords
- History, Kenai Fjords National Park