2008 Fairbanks Flood

Here are some scenes of the flooding in the Fairbanks and Nenana areas. If you have pictures of the flooding, send them to internet@newsminer.com and we'll post them online.

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High water flows through downtown Fairbanks as seen from the Golden Heart Plaza as the Chena River rises Thursday, July 31, 2008.

A boat and float plane pass each other in the Chena River as the water rises Thursday, July 31, 2008.

The Riverboat Discovery cruises through high water that has encroached onto the boat launch and neighboring yards at the end of Ravenwood Avenue as the Chena River rises Thursday, July 31, 2008.

(from left) Julia Malingowski, and Karen and Matt Kidwell take a run along the Chena River bike path behind the Carlson Center as the Chena River rises past the tree line Thursday, July 31, 2008.

Pedestrians pass by a washout along Loftus Road at Dead Man's Slough on Thursday, July 31, 2008. The washout stopped traffic from entering or exiting the Loftus Park subdivision at the end of Loftus Road, but JVP Construction, which has the maintenance contract for the subdivision, was filling the hole with bull rock to stabilize the road and make it usable as a one-lane road until the water subsides.

The Chena River is almost to the back of the Fairbanks Princess Hotel on Wednesday morning.

By Wednesday morning, the Chena River had risen to the benches near the Tanana Chief Sternwheeler.

Heavy rainfall cut a ravine through the shore near a home at Harding Lake.

Charles Tressler wades his way along Howell Road as a pickup truck braves the rising waters as Salcha residents struggle with another flood caused by rising waters in the Tanana and Salcha Rivers due to recent heavy rains Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Friends, family, coworkers, volunteers, and military personnel worked tirelessly together in the efforts to minimize the damage from the flooding, which closed roads and filled crawl spaces throughout the area.

Arctic Slope World Services employees (from left) Ken Lammers, Bob Gahrmann, Tony Lashler, and Robert Hardwick start up and drive snowmachines onto a trailer as they transport the machines to higher ground at the Howell Road home of co-worker Mike Young, who is out of town for work, as Salcha residents struggle with another flood caused by rising waters in the Tanana and Salcha Rivers due to recent heavy rains Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Friends, family, co-workers, volunteers, and military personnel worked tirelessly together in the efforts to minimize the damage from the flooding, which closed roads and filled crawl spaces throughout the area.

Arctic Slope World Services employees (from left) Ken Lammers, Bob Gahrmann, and Tony Lashler transport snowmachines to higher ground at the Howell Road home of co-worker Mike Young, who is out of town for work, as Salcha residents struggle with another flood caused by rising waters in the Tanana and Salcha Rivers due to recent heavy rains Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Friends, family, co-workers, volunteers, and military personnel worked tirelessly together in the efforts to minimize the damage from the flooding, which closed roads and filled crawl spaces throughout the area.

Carolyn Lincoln, left, gets a flooding update from volunteers bagging sand at the Salcha Fairgrounds as Salcha residents struggle with another flood caused by rising waters in the Tanana and Salcha Rivers due to recent heavy rains Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Friends, family, co-workers, volunteers, and military personnel worked tirelessly together in the efforts to minimize the damage from the flooding, which closed roads and filled crawl spaces throughout the area.

A pickup is abandoned on Melanie Lane in the Tanana River flood waters Wednesday, July 30, 2008. The Tanana River, at well over 26 feet Wednesday, has risen to its highest level since the flood of 1967 according to National Weather Service hydrologist Ed Plumb.

A pickup is parked behind another vehicle in a garage on Melanie Lane in attempt to keep the engine out of the rising flood waters Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Residents were awakened by borough officials in the early morning as the rising Tanana River flooded the area.

This picture was taken at noon on Wednesday on our front lawn off Chena Pump Road on the Chena River. In the kayak is Kendrick Hautala and in the boat is Eric Hoffman and his dog, Chance. — Lynn Hoffman, Fairbanks

Gordon Tuck stands in his front yard at Paula Court in Salcha about 11 a.m. His house is one of several near the Knotty Shop that are surrounded by water. The water in the area is receding a little, Cheryl Berryhill said Wednesday afternoon.

In this photo from the state Department of Transportation, the Old Richardson Highway and Salcha intersection is flooded Wednesday, and the Piledriver Bridge has log jams at both ends. remains log jammed at both ends.

A man walks through floodwaters on Maggie Lane in Salcha early Wednesday morning.

Volunteers from the Laborers Local 942 fill sand bags at the Tanana River overlook on Chena Pump Road on Thursday. Nearby residents who are threated by flood waters are using the bags to help protect their property.

The Chena River is at the very edge of the River's Edge Resort.

I took this picture of a fire department vehicle that was driving out in the flood waters on Perkins Drive, off Rosie Creek Road. Notice the canoe in the lower right hand corner of the picture. This was taken about 9 a.m. July 30.

A huge sinkhole developed near the end of Loftus Road.

My son, Silas, 3, took advantage of a sunny break in the weather to gather up some duck and goose decoys that were floating around the yard. He put them in his wagon and pulled them to

The edge of the Tanana River laps over Chena Pump Campground at 10:20 a.m. Wednesday. The trees in the water are where we usually park the truck after putting in our boat.

A beaver has his work cut out for him if he's trying to dam the tide of the Chena River off Loftus Road.

The Chena River laps at the bottom of the ramp at Golden Heart Plaza in downtown Fairbanks on Friday morning.

Heavy rains washed out the driveway and extended the beach at the Dieringer residence on Harding Lake.

The Salcha River above flood stage on July 30.

These are my grandchildren, Kacie and Shawn, and they are holding on to each other as they look at the still high flood waters surrounding their home and mine. They have been the best little troopers through this whole ordeal and I wanted to share the sweetness of the innocent in the most horrible of times. They won't be able to stay in their house for awhile but we managed to keep mine dry so they will stay with us until they can move home again. We are praying the weather will be kind so that can happen real soon.

High waters surround a dock along the Chena River.

The Tanana River in South Fairbanks in full flood on July 30, 2008.

Jim Huddleston carries his daughter Kalei to their boat as his wife Amanda steadies it with the oars as they prepare to paddle up to their rental cabin to assess the damage for the first time as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008.

A four-wheeler that was tied to a tree to keep from washing away rests upside down along the road as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008.

Jim Huddleston, his wife Amanda, and daughter Kalei paddle back from their rental cabin after assessing the damage for the first time as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008.

Barb Fennessy and her dogs check the water level, which appeared to be dropping, from her porch as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River on Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008. Fennessy had to move her dogs from the flooded dog yard to the house, but didn't suffer any damage to her home because it was built high enough.

Jim Huddleston peeks in the door as he, his wife, Amanda, and daughter, Kalei, paddle up to their rental cabin to assess the damage for the first time as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River on Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008.

Bum Beck moves dirt with bulldozer as floodwaters stream over a submerged section of Front Street in Nenana on Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008.

Amanda Huddleston takes inventory of water-damaged items, many still in boxes, after paddling up to her family's rental cabin to assess the damage for the first time as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008. Her husband, Jim, purchased a small boat to get back to the cabin they just moved in to after moving to Fairbanks from Colorado just three weeks ago.

Jim and Amanda Huddleston leave footprints in the mud inside their rental cabin as they assess the damage for the first time as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008. The Huddlestons just moved to Fairbanks from Colorado three weeks ago.

Barb Fennessy had to move her dogs inside after her dog yard flooded and washed the dog houses into a pile against the fence as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River on Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008.

Some residents are taking the flooding in stride, one recently adding a

An oily sheen glistens on the water as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River on Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008.

Jim Huddleston carries his daughter, Kalei, to their boat as they prepare to paddle up to their rental cabin to assess the damage for the first time as residents along Melanie Lane in the Rosie Creek area continue to cope with the flooding from the Tanana River on Friday afternoon, August 1, 2008.

Aerial view of the Old Richardson Highway in Salcha when flood waters were at their highest on July 30.

The Salcha River boat launch when floodwaters were at their highest on July 30.

The Richardson Highway Bridge over the Salcha River on July 30, 2008.

The Tanana River is above flood stage on July 30, 2008.

Floodwaters from the Tanana River inundate the town of Nenana on Aug. 2, 2008. The photo is taken from 2,500-foot elevation.

The Tanana River overruns the campground at Chena Pump Road on July 30.

An aerial view of Nenana on Aug. 2, 2008, with floodwaters covering most of the town. The Tanana River is to the left.

Floodwaters extend over the Old Richardson Highway area in Salcha on July 30. The Knotty Shop is at top.

The Knotty Shop is surrounded by floodwaters on July 30, 2008.

An aerial view of the flooding along the Old Richardson Highway on July 30, 2008.

A logjam forms upstream of the Moose Creek Dam after heavy rains lead to flooding in Interior Alaska.

Nenana is inundated by the rain-swollen Tanana River, bottom and Nenana River, right on Aug. 2, 2008.

The Alaska Railroad bridge spans the rain-swollen Tanana River in Nenana on Aug. 2, 2008. Floodwaters have covered the railroad tracks in Nenana and washed out part of the railbed.

This beautiful great horned owl started hanging out around our place in Salcha a few days before the flooding started and is still here so we are pretty sure it knew what was coming and it was going to have easy pickin's from the scurrying critters trying to escape the rising water.

Flood waters at their highest around our home and our daughter's place on Wednesday in Salcha. Although we sand bagged her house , the flood came in from groundwater that the pumps couldn't keep up with. Our good friend, Ken Vaughn, helped us sand bag till Wednesday at 3 a.m. in the pouring rain until we ran out of sand and steam.

Floodwaters run through the Alaska Railroad tracks near Nenana on Aug. 2, 2008.

The shooting range at the end of South Cushman Street is under several feet of water on Friday.

Water runs through the tracks of the Alaska Railroad near Nenana on Aug. 2, 2008.

My husband Dale Powell is 6-feet, 1 inch tall. He tried to get past the submerged truck in the Rosie Creek area that has been shown in several photos, but it was too deep. At this point, we had walked more than 1 and a quarter miles in very cold water that was at least hip deep and even deeper in other parts.

We were awakened at 4 a.m. Wednesday and found that our access road had more than 2 feet of water on it. Wednesday evening when the sun gave us a brief reprieve, my husband and I put on our chest waders and went for a walk. Our main purpose was to check on a neighbor whose house we were not able to get to as the water was over our chest waders. In the course of our walk, imagine our surprise that the News-Miner had delivered Wednesday's paper. Our box is on the upper level, so it was high and dry.

Chief John Road has about 3 feet of water on it on Friday.

Logs pile up against the Moose Creek Dam on July 30.

Looking east from the Parks Highway, the Tanana River is overflowing into Nenana, forcing some residents from their homes.

Looking east from the Parks Highway to the Rough Woods Inn, in downtown Nenana.

Water encroaches on the public boat launch on 10th Avenue in Nenana. This is the highest the Tanana River has risen since 1967.

This is the view from west side of the Parks Highway, looking at the tug and barge company's flooded yard in Nenana on Aug. 2, 2008.

Floodwaters encroach on Nenana on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008.

The Tanana River is level with the bank in Nenana, where the train station and river dock are surrounded by floodwaters on Aug. 3, 2008.

During a soggy stroll down Melanie Lane midafternoon on Aug. 1, 2008, we came across News-Miner photographer Eric Engman pulling a canoe. Dave Holt has his back to the camera.

Arlene Chase says of her flooded garden in North Pole,

Cory Christian gets his newspaper via canoe the day his neighborhood off Rosie Creek Road flooded.

This is a picture of our dog, Mutley, who so desperately wanted to be outside with us that he had to walk the sandbags.

An Alaska State Trooper car navigates floodwaters in Nenana to check on residents.

Matthew Putman and Amanda canoe through the flooded streets of Nenana on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008.

Water fills C Street in front of the Nenana High School on Tuesday evening, Aug. 5, 2008. Only 8 inches separated the school from the Tanana River floodwaters that covered the town, Superintendent Eric Gebhart said. Despite the roads leading to the school being impassable, the school year should start on schedule Aug. 14.

Floodwaters cover a playground in Nenana on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008

Got a canoe? C Street in Nenana is flooded in this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008.

The intersection of 2nd Avenue and C Street in Nenana was still flooded on Tuesday,

Summer flowers poke out of the floodwaters in Nenana on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008.

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