Project Overview
Typhoon Merbok brought hurricane-strength winds and high waves to more than 1,300 miles of coastline in Western Alaska in September 2022, affecting dozens of communities. The typhoon’s storm surge damaged the jetty at Cape Nome, initiating issuance of a FEMA disaster declaration to facilitate jetty repairs.
PND coordinated closely with the City of Nome and the Department of Homeland Security & Emergency Management to repair the rock-armor face of the jetty. PND provided emergency design, cost estimation, contract administration, and construction planning services. PND’s design restored the jetty’s pre-storm protection capacity, limited sloughing of the jetty revetment, and accommodated changes to site conditions without sacrificing the jetty’s integrity during future storm events. Implementing the updated design for current site conditions allowed construction to proceed with minimal impact to project schedule and cost.
Our Role
- Civil Engineering: designed repairs to the jetty’s rock armor and revetment slope to restore storm protection capacity, improve stability, and adapt the structure to volatile coastal conditions
- Coastal Engineering: repaired damage from Typhoon Merbok and strengthened the jetty to withstand future storm events
- Surveying: collected upland survey and bathymetry data to establish existing conditions and provide a basemap for design
Applying PND’s Emergency Design Experience
PND previously worked with the City of Nome at the jetty to support FEMA-funded emergency repairs after another powerful storm in 2011. We have also completed successful emergency study and/or repair projects in Circle, Ekwok, Juneau, Seward, and Utqiaġvik, Alaska, which positioned us as prime contract administrators to effectively aid the city through the FEMA funding bid and review process following Typhoon Merbok. Our team completed the required documentation to support the city’s funding requests, and we led project permitting to successfully obtain a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit that enabled in-water construction for effectively executing the jetty repairs.
PND’s clear understanding of emergency repair expectations and our ability to adapt designs to real-world coastal conditions in extreme conditions along the West Coast of Alaska helped the City of Nome secure funding and allow construction to progress on schedule.
