A Little Valdez History

(2018 Alaska Ep 33)

Most people know about the Exxon Valdez oil spill.  At 12:04 am on March 24, 1989, the 987 foot long oil tanker Exxon Valdez stuck Bligh Reef on Prince William Sound near Valdez.  Eight of the 11 tanks on the ship were punctured spilling nearly 5.8 million gallons of crude oil in three hours.  Later reports put the total spill at 10.8 million gallons.

Due to the area’s remote location, and a slow and uncoordinated response, the environmental impact was devastating.  There was a massive cleanup effort of hundreds of miles of shoreline by thousands of persons.  29 years later, many of the affected animal species have recovered, but there are still significant lingering effects of the spill.

Valdez was not directly impacted by the spill – it is 27 miles from Bligh Reef.  But the resulting media and environmental attention had a major impact with more than 10,000 persons overwhelming the town of 4100.

Valdez has not fared well in March.

During the afternoon of March 27, 1964 the ground began to shake and continued for nearly five minutes.  The Good Friday Earthquake, as it has come to be known,  measured at 9.2 on the Moment-Magnitude scale, the largest ever recorded earthquake in North America and second largest in the world.

The earthquake significantly impacted Valdez, Anchorage, other towns in Alaska, and coastal areas as far south as California, as well as Hawaii and Japan.  The epicenter was about 45 miles west of Valdez.

32 persons were killed in Valdez from the waterfront sliding into the sea and a 30-to-40 foot tsunami that followed.

Valdez was badly damaged and was moved to its current location three years later.

The Valdez Museum has engaging exhibits on both the oil spill and earthquake.