Weather service issues high wind warning for early Friday

Juneau | Outdoors | WeatherWeather service issues high wind warning for early FridaySeptember 29, 2016 by Jeremy Hsieh, KTOO Share:Wind spins a turbine at Coast Guard Station Juneau on Thursday. The Goldbelt Mount Roberts Tramway is visible between the blades. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)The National Weather Service is forecasting 40 mph winds with gusts up to 70 mph beginning early Friday.The service has issued a high wind warning for downtown Juneau and Douglas in effect from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.Winds of that speed can uproot trees, knock branches down and damage property, including vessels and aircraft moored and tied down outdoors.Alaska Electric Light and Power spokeswoman Debbie Driscoll said the electric utility is ready for outages.“We’re basically prepared 365 days a year, so we have crews available to respond to any issue that comes up, 24 hours a day. However, in this case, what we do is we alert the duty engineer that’s expected to be on this evening and then we notify our Thane operation center and we make sure our line crew is aware of the high wind warning.”Nonetheless, Driscoll suggests people keep an outage kit on hand, with items like a battery-operated radio, fully charged cell phone and warm blanket in case of an outage.High wind warning tonight. Is your outage kit up to date? Call 586-AELP to report an outage. Our crews are ready. pic.twitter.com/7yehGi4AVG— AEL&P (@AELPJUNEAU) September 29, 2016To report outages, call the utility’s after hours line at 586-AELP. The utility also takes outage reports and posts updates online at its website, as well as its Facebook and Twitter accounts.Share this story: