Test flash flood warning to air in Juneau Sept. 23 for Salmon Creek Dam

Weather radios and broadcast stations in the Juneau area will carry a Flash Flood Warning alert on Wednesday, Sept. 23, with no flood behind it.

The National Weather Service office in Juneau and Alaska Electric Light & Power will run a functional live test of the Salmon Creek Dam Notification System between 10 a.m. and noon AKDT. The test message goes out by audio and Specific Area Message Encoding tones, the signal that sets off weather radios, over NOAA Weather Radio transmitters serving the Juneau area, and through the Emergency Alert System.

"The audio message will use the phrase Flash Flood Warning but will state that the message is only a test," Nicole Ferrin, warning coordination meteorologist at the Juneau office, said in an Aug. 20 public information statement. The word Test will be repeated several times in the message.

The test will not reach cellphones through the Wireless Emergency Alert system.

Ferrin said the test supports the utility's dam alert system.

The dam's evacuation siren is a separate system, and neither the statement nor AEL&P says whether it will sound during the drill. AEL&P says on its dam safety page that in a real emergency, "If this siren is activated for a dam failure, evacuate the floodplain immediately." The page also carries a floodplain map, an evacuation brochure and the utility's line, 907-759-5900.

Significant weather in Juneau that morning could cancel the drill. The Weather Service said it would announce any change in another public information statement.