Aloha from Alaska?

UPDATE: Prudhoe Bay could be shut down for days - This just posted on the Anchorage Daily News website:

Prudhoe Bay, the nation’s largest oil field, will remain out of service for several days as BP workers try to restore reliable electric power to well pads, processing plants and other facilities, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

So much for falling oil prices...
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While many of us in Alaska LOVE Hawaiian weather, it's much safer for us if it remains in Hawaii.

From the Anchorage Daily News:

Authorities evacuated dozens of homes in several Seward-area subdivisions Monday as floodwaters from a two-day deluge rose to record levels.

The water's quick rise led to some harrowing moments, including a ride in the bucket of a front-end loader for some evacuees.

"We were afraid for our lives," said Sean Tanner, whose vacationing family -- all five -- rode in the scoop of the large piece of heavy equipment that rescuers used to fetch them from their rented cabin on Exit Glacier Road. The water had started pressing on the cabin's walls, he said, and he parked his rental van close by for access to the roof before rescuers arrived.

While the flooding in Seward provided some dramatic and downright scary pictures for CNN, it is far from the only community being devastated by this wacko weather:

Record rainfall, mudslides and snowmelt are hammering Valdez, where breached levees Tuesday prompted the evacuation of some 200 residents, and others remained stranded after officials closed nearly 70 miles of the Richardson Highway.

The wet, windy, unseasonably warm weather has walloped Southcentral communities like Valdez, Seward, and Cordova for days. In the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, officials said while water rose along some troublesome creeks and rivers, no waterway reached flood stage.

One Valdez resident gave a description that allowed the rest of us to appreciate a little more how violent the water has become:

"The creeks here look like turbine jets," Kinney said. "When I walk out my door, it's thunderous. I'm looking out at probably 20 waterfalls coming down from 6,000 feet."

Wow..

BP even had to shut down the Pipeline on Monday:

From flooding in Seward to mudslides in Valdez and high winds around Anchorage, Mother Nature continues to beat down on Alaska. Today’s temporary closure of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline was just another consequence of the elemental whipping the state has submitted to over the last several days.

Oil production in Prudhoe Bay was disrupted today and flow through the pipeline was halted. Both the largest U.S. oil field and its artery to production were shutdown today due to poor weather at both ends of the 800-mile pipeline.

Starting on the north end of the pipeline, around 3 a.m. today, gusts up to 70 mph caused a power outage at Prudhoe Bay, forcing oil giant BP to shutdown production.

Those of us in Anchorage, especially the Hillside and those along Cook Inlet, have experienced high winds. These have ranged from gusts to 65 mph at my house in Mid-town to...I kid you not...gusts of 100 mph in the higher elevations.

For those of you keeping track, those rise to the intensity of hurricane-level winds.

We have another High Wind Warning for the higher elevations in effect for tonight and until late this afternoon, there is a Flood Warning for the Susitna Valley, however the temperatures are somewhat lower and hopefully, by the end of the week, will be closer to normal.

I know that I was praying for the snow to hold off until after Halloween, but this is ridiculous!