LIVE UPDATES: Red Cross opens shelter in Palmer during power outage, after multi-family home fire

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) — A windstorm has caused power outages from the Kenai Peninsula to the Talkeetna area.

Saturday 9:30 p.m.

The American Red Cross of Alaska is opening a shelter Saturday night at 10 p.m.

It will be at the Glenn Massay Theater at Matanuska-Susitna College. The address is 8295 College Drive in Palmer.

The Red Cross said it is opening the shelter because of the windstorm, but also because of a multi-family home fire in Wasilla near Willow Street.

“Initial reports indicate that five households were impacted by this fire,” the Red Cross wrote.

The shelter is open to anyone impacted by the fire, as well as anyone without power from the windstorm. People who need to stay overnight are welcome, as well as people who need a place to warm up and access power, the Red Cross said.

“Anyone affected is welcome to stop by for a hot meal, to charge their phone, and get other support. We don’t ask for identification, and you don’t have to stay overnight,” the Red Cross said.

Saturday 9:20 p.m.

Power has been restored to all but one customer in Anchorage, according to the Chugach Electric outage map.

Saturday 7:40 p.m.

Chugach electric’s outage map has reduced the amount of impacted customers from more than 8,000 to about 4,200.

Saturday 7:20 p.m.

Chugach Electric in Anchorage is reporting more than 8,000 customers are without power Saturday evening.

Chugach Electric said a crew is responding to reports of wind causing a tree to take out a powerline in West Anchorage.

The power outage is most heavily impacting the Midtown, Spenard and Turnagain areas.

Wind gusts in the Lake Hood area peaked at 52 miles per hour. Gusts peaked in the Earthquake Park and Jewel Lake areas at 30 miles per hour.

Saturday 7 p.m.

JBER Lodging has confirmed it is offering housing to military members who have lost power because of the storm.

Military members who are impacted can call 907-552-2454 to contact JBER Lodging.

Saturday 6:50 p.m.

Officials are recommending people in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley to stay inside unless it is an emergency.

Matanuska Electric (MEA) crews worked through the night and day to get customers back online, but MEA warns that due to the high winds, people could be without power until Sunday.

”We are making some progress with restoration, but, of course, as we restore some members, more outages are occurring, because that wind is still howling. We do anticipate it taking into tomorrow to get folks back up and going,” MEA Community and Employee Engagement Coordinator Sabrena Combs said Saturday afternoon. “They will continue to work through the night to make restorations as they can.”

Palmer Mayor Jim Cooper said the town is seeing physical impacts from the storm.

“There’s just a lot of debris that have blow in and around town, garbage cans. The police were out chasing a big sign down the road and someone was trying to help them,” Cooper said. “The roads are very slippery. There are downed power lines or downed trees in and around town.”

With severe weather impacting travel throughout the valley, Ken Barkley, director of emergency services for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, said he saw people at Wasilla airport tying down their airplanes.

Officials are also encouraging everyone to bring any loose objects inside to avoid having them fly away.

“We’ve seen trash cans all over the place and debris just from the high wind. So, if it’s not your trash can and you can secure it, please do because a flying object obviously is a hazard,” Barkley said.

Meteorologist Bailey Braun’s forecast can be found here.

Saturday 6:15 p.m.

Matanuska Electric’s outage map shows more than 18,000 members are without power.

At around 5:40 p.m., it noted on Facebook that nearly 21,000 people were without power, saying, “While we did get some members back up and going in the Gateway area, we just lost downtown Palmer again.”

Homer Electric’s outages in the Kenai and Nikiski areas have reduced. Its online outage map notes 408 customers are without power, with most of those being in Nikiski.

Around 2:45 p.m., Homer Electric posted on Facebook saying, “Crews were able to restore a large outage in Nikiski, but outages have continued to pop up in Nikiski and Kenai due to high winds.”

It was noting about 3,000 customers were without power at that time, but that number has lowered since.

Saturday 1:30 p.m.

More than 4,000 customers in the Kenai Peninsula Borough are also without power., according to Homer Electric.

The largest outages in that region are the Kenai and Nikiski areas, according to Homer Electric’s online outage map.

Wind gusts hit 79 miles per hour on the Nikiski coastline and 54 miles per hour in Kenai since midnight.

Matanuska Electric noted around 1:10 p.m. that nearly 21,000 members were without power, the largest outages being in the KGB, Fairview, Ranch Subdivision and the Palmer Proper and Greater area.

Saturday 11:30 a.m.

More than 17,000 customers in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley are without power Saturday around 11:30 a.m. after a windstorm, according to Matanuska Electric Association (MEA).

The outages span from the Palmer and Wasilla area up to the Talkeetna area.

Wind gusts hit 84 miles per hour in Palmer and 75 miles per hour in Wasilla since midnight.

MEA started reporting outages on their Facebook page around 3 a.m., saying crews were working to restore power.

The outages started small, but by 6:45 a.m., MEA was reporting more than 8,000 customers without power.

Around 10 a.m., MEA said, “Not a lot of restoration has occurred as there are many downed trees and lines and the situation continues to worsen.”

The Palmer Police Department is reminding people to drive safe and watch for flying debris. It said some stop lights are also out.

On Facebook, the Wasilla Police Department reminded people to treat all non-functional or flashing stop lights as stop signs.

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