Southeast residents who have been living through the rainfall and mudslide deluge of this past weekend may remember the historic Thanksgiving Day storm of Nov. 22, 1984. That was when one of the highest tides of the year coincided with a massive low pressure system that arrived from Sakalin Island area in Eastern Siberia. The storm ended up causing millions of dollars in damage and at least some homeowners found their houses washed into the ocean.

The tide was expected to reach 20.3 feet in Juneau, but the surging waves from the wind added another 2-3 feet of water along the shore. Waves in Lynn Canal were up to 10 feet high. In downtown Juneau, the Federal Building logged gusts at 90 miles per hour, and in Gastineau Channel, the winds exceeded 100 miles per hour. Parts of Marine Park’s underpinnings were washed out in downtown Juneau and mudslides blocked Thane Road.

The wind flipped smaller aircraft at the airport, and boats sank on their moors in the harbors. Dozens of homes were without power as trees toppled over power lines, and waves crashed over Egan Drive.

Taking the brunt of it, however, was Tenakee Springs. About 20 homes were destroyed during that storm, and property damage was in the tens of thousands in Gustavus, the homesteading gateway to Glacier Bay National Park.

Whether it had anything to do with a total solar eclipse that occurred the same day is not known, but the eclipse’s total darkness was seen in the Southern Pacific Ocean, Indonesia, and  Papua New Guinea.

A Thanksgiving Day storm of epic proportions also struck Florida the same day that year, grounding a freighter and causing significant coastal erosion on Florida’s Atlantic Coast.

Years earlier, it was Nov. 28, 1968, when a southerly gale struck Ketchikan on Thanksgiving Day, and although it was a usual fall storm with hurricane force winds, this one did significant damage to the First City homes and infrastructure, and delayed a number of Thanksgiving Day meals. There was nothing unusual about the position of the moon or sun on that day.

[Read about the Ketchikan Thanksgiving Day Storm of 1968 at SitNews.com]

Do you have memories of the 1984 Thanksgiving Day Storm or the 1968 Thanksgiving Day Storm? Share them in the comment section.

CAN A LIBERAL PUBLISH A NEWSPAPER IN TRUMP COUNTRY?

Former Wrangell Sentinel owner Larry Persily got his start in Alaska as the publisher of the Sentinel in 1976, and will be publisher once again of the 118-year-old newspaper.

Persily, of Anchorage, is buying the newspaper from owners Ron and Anne Loesch, who also publish the nearby Petersburg Pilot. The Loeschs have published the Wrangell paper for the past 17 years.

Persily has been in and out of the newspaper business for much of his career, including working as editorial page editor for the Anchorage Daily News and editor of the Juneau Empire, as well as publisher of a short-lived political weekly in Juneau. He publishes an oil-and-gas newsletter, but also is a man on a mission to save small-town newspapers in Alaska.

In April of 2019, Persily bought the Skagway News, and then essentially gave it away after searching for new owners who would be committed to living in Skagway as members of the community, which he believes is essential to community journalism.

Gretchen Wehmhoff, a Chugiak resident who in 2017 ran as a Democrat against Rep. Cathy Tilton in District 12, and Melinda Munson of Chugiak took over the Skagway News after winning over Persily and paying him $20.

[Read: Skagway News has new publishers]

Shortly after the women moved their families to Skagway, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the border to Canada was closed, so they were not able to get the newsprint edition of the newspaper produced at their Canadian printer. The Skagway News has been online only for months, and has struggled as a result.

Persily, who has also worked in politics, notably as the Federal Coordinator of the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects under the Obama Administration and as Deputy Commissioner of Revenue in the Gov. Tony Knowles Administration, was named the Atwood Chair of Journalism at the University of Alaska Anchorage for 2019-2020. In 2009-2010, he was an aide to Republican Rep. Hawker, R-Anchorage, who was House Finance Committee co-chair. 

Although Persily is considered by many to be a liberal (he is a registered nonpartisan in Alaska), Wrangell is the heartbeat of Trump Country in the 49th State. The Wrangell precinct 36-690 cast 526 votes for President Donald Trump and 171 votes for Joe Biden in the recent election. In fact, during the recent campaign season, Trump signs, stickers, and MAGA swag were everywhere to be seen in the timber-mining-fishing town that sits in the heart of the Tongass National Forest.

Persily will take over the Sentinel in early 2021 and keep the current staff of two, according to the newspaper

“My wife and I started in Alaska journalism with the Sentinel in 1976, and it just feels right to buy the paper at this time and help build on its 118-year history,” Persily said of the ownership transfer, as quoted by the Sentinel and the Petersburg Pilot.

The Sentinel claims the title of Alaska’s oldest continuously published newspaper, launched in 1902 as the Alaska Sentinel. It has had 11 owners. Past publishers include former President of Alaska Airlines Charles Willis; Lew Williams Sr., former Ketchikan Daily News, Sitka Sentinel and Petersburg Press Publishers Dorothy and Lew Williams, Jr.; and Larry Persily and the late Leslie Murray.