Rain is coming to the Interior, and the small creeks will rise — but the big rivers are low enough to take it

Up to two inches of rain is expected to fall across Interior Alaska through Tuesday, and the small streams feeding the Koyukuk and Middle Yukon rivers could rise noticeably as it does, the National Weather Service in Fairbanks said Monday. The larger rivers, though, are running low right now, so forecasters expect no trouble on the mainstems — the drop of water simply has room to go.

That distinction matters along the Koyukuk, where communities like Allakaket, Huslia and Galena have long watched the water closely. Summer rain that swells the tributaries is a normal part of the year here, and most of the time, as now, it passes without incident. But the river has a memory. In August 1994, weeks of heavy rain sent the middle Koyukuk over its banks and forced the entire village of Allakaket, along with neighboring Alatna, to evacuate as floodwater destroyed or damaged nearly every building — a disaster that took years to rebuild from. As recently as this spring, ice-jam flooding on the Koyukuk drove most of Hughes' residents to the community shelter and drew a state disaster declaration.

This week's rain is nothing on that scale. The mainstem rivers are low, the rise is expected on the smaller streams rather than the big water, and rainfall is forecast to taper off by Tuesday afternoon. It is the kind of ordinary late-summer wet stretch the Interior sees often — worth noting for anyone with a camp or a boat on a small creek, but not a threat to the rivers themselves.