ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Thousands of residents across Alaska’s largest city were still without power Monday, a day after a powerful storm brought hurricane-force winds that downed power lines, damaged trees, forced more than a dozen planes to divert, and caused a pedestrian bridge over a highway to partially collapse.
A 132-mph (212-kph) wind gust was recorded at a mountain weather station south of Anchorage. Just north of the city, a 107-mph (172-kph) gust was recorded in Arctic Valley, and within the city a 75-mph (121-kph) gust was recorded. Hurricane-force winds start at 74 mph (119 kph).
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This image provided by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities shows fencing and the roof of a walkway after collapsing onto the Seward Highway in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities via AP)
A pedestrian bridge spanning the Seward Highway was damaged during the windstorm on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
Dick Powell cuts a birch tree blocking Steeple Drive in South Anchorage during the windstorm on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
A woman tosses debris from a construction site that was on Brayton Drive during the windstorm on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
A large low-pressure system in the Bering Sea brought the high winds, moisture and warmer than average temperatures — in the low 40s Fahrenheit (slightly over 4.4 degrees Celsius) — to Anchorage on Sunday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tracen Knopp.
In Anchorage, Steven Wood and his family were watching the winds blow things around the yard after they finished breakfast Sunday morning when they saw their neighbor’s roof partially blow off and head right toward them.
“All of a sudden, I see the roof start to peel off, and all I can yell is, ‘Incoming! Everybody run!’” he told Anchorage television station KTUU.
The roof hit a window in Wood’s home, sending broken glass all over the house. “It’s down the hallways, down the stairs and it actually separated the drywall in the bedroom it hit so hard,” he said.
The high winds are suspected of contributing to the partial collapse of a pedestrian walkway over the Seward Highway, a major thoroughfare and the only road leading south out of Anchorage.
There were no injuries when the side fencing and roof of the bridge fell onto the four-lane divided highway on Sunday. Traffic was rerouted and crews removed the debris.
“The winds were the leading cause, but our bridge engineers will be out there today and may be able give us a more comprehensive analysis of what happened,” Alaska Department of Transportation spokesperson Shannon McCarthy said.
Three passenger jets, nine cargo planes and one U.S. Air Force plane could not land Sunday in Anchorage because of the winds. McCarthy said all were diverted to Fairbanks, about a six-hour drive north of Anchorage. The state transportation department also oversees airports in Alaska.
Residents were beginning to clean up after the winds scattered trash bins and other debris throughout the city, toppled or damaged trees, and downed power lines.
At the peak of the storm, 17,500 customers were without power, said Julie Hasquet, a spokesperson for Chugach Electric Association. That number was down to about 5,700 on Monday. The restoration is an exacting process, and she said some customers may not have power back on until Tuesday.
“When our crews show up for repairs, they don’t know what they’re going to find,” Hasquet said, noting the storm blew trees and even trampolines from people’s yards into lines.
“If it’s a tree, you’ve got to get the tree out of the line, then you have to repair the line, rehang it, and they you have to re-energize,” she said. “It’s just been a very painstaking process because the damage is so extensive all across the city.”
This image provided by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities shows fencing and the roof of a walkway after collapsing onto the Seward Highway in Anchorage, Alaska, on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities via AP)
A pedestrian bridge spanning the Seward Highway was damaged during the windstorm on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
Dick Powell cuts a birch tree blocking Steeple Drive in South Anchorage during the windstorm on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
A woman tosses debris from a construction site that was on Brayton Drive during the windstorm on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States launched a second round of airstrikes into Thursday morning on Iran after President Donald Trump warned that Tehran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations.
The new assault across multiple cities comes as efforts to negotiate an end the war again appeared stuck, with Iran insisting it would maintain its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices higher.
Iran threatened to retaliate for the strikes, and missile sirens sounded Thursday morning in Bahrain, home to the headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. However, there wasn’t an immediately Iranian attack at the intensity of the one that came Wednesday morning after the first round of American strikes, when Iran launched missiles at Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
The U.S. Central Command said it had “completed” its latest round of airstrikes just before sunrise in Iran. The military command said the stirkes came “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression” and targeted “Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defense sites.” It did not elaborate on the damage done by the strikes, which it said were carried out by the U.S. Air Force, Marines and Navy.
Explosions from the strikes echoed around Iran’s capital, Tehran, as well as in the port city of Bandar Abbas and other southern areas along the strait.
It was the third time this week that back-and-forth strikes have tested a two-month ceasefire. The strikes took place after a day of Iranian fire in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, all of which host U.S. troops.
Trump has urged Iran to sign a deal to end the war and suggested earlier this week that an agreement could be reached in days.
Iran’s United Nations envoy said the U.S. should refrain from threats of force if it wants a deal.
“Iran has never negotiated under threats and pressure and will never submit to pressure or question,” Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.
Still, both countries seem to be looking for a way to end the conflict — if they can manage to sell it as a win at home.
Iran has proved resilient despite weeks of heavy bombing. It is betting that its ability to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial passageway for oil and natural gas — gives it a strong bargaining chip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears intent on pursuing goals that make compromise harder: the collapse of Iran’s theocratic government, the elimination of its nuclear program, and the destruction of the Iranian-allied Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. On Monday, Iran and Israel targeted each other.
Since the U.S. and Israel started the war with Feb. 28 attacks on Iran, the conflict has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices worldwide, and made food and other basics more expensive.
The international benchmark for crude oil traded above $93 a barrel on Wednesday, up more than 25% since the start of the war.
Trump said the U.S. military has since last month undertaken a “secret mission” to sneak oil shipments past Iran’s forces in the Strait of Hormuz. He said ships were slipping through at night, aided by the destruction of Iranian radar equipment.
Trump said as a result more than 100 million barrels of oil have evaded Iran’s chokehold on the strait. There was no immediate confirmation of that figure, which roughly equals five days of oil shipments through the waterway before the war began.
The military’s role was not immediately clear. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a Central Command spokesman, said U.S. forces “communicate and coordinate” with commercial ships in the area, but gave no details on military support being offered.
The U.S. Central Command on Wednesday refuted Iran’s claims that the Strait of Hormuz is closed, saying commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. military said an American aircraft fired “precision munitions” into the engine room of the Palau-flagged vessel M/T Settebello as it attempted to breach the naval blockade with a shipment of Iranian oil. It was the eighth merchant vessel disabled by U.S. forces in waters off Iran.
India’s foreign ministry said three Indian sailors were missing after the Settebello was struck, while 21 others were rescued. Its statement did not mention the U.S. military or the blockade.
Hawkins of the U.S. Central Command said American forces warned the crew before firing on the ship.
The U.S. military said strikes earlier Wednesday targeted “air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites."
Iran said U.S. strikes hit two water reservoirs in the southern city of Sirik, temporarily cutting off water to thousands of people. U.S. Central Command had no immediate comment. Tehran later claimed attacks in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the American attacks as a violation of Iranian sovereignty.
Still, efforts to mediate a deal continued. Following consultations with the U.S., a delegation from Qatar arrived in Tehran for talks earlier Wednesday, according to an official with knowledge of the visit who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
The exchanges of fire came a day after a U.S. Army attack helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz. The helicopter collided with an Iranian drone, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional.
A drone boat rescued the helicopter’s two crew. Trump said they were uninjured.
Wary of high gas prices in the run-up to congressional elections in November, Trump seems to be looking for a quick win. But he is also making demands that will be tough for Iran to swallow.
The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. While Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, that uranium is a short technical step from weapons-grade levels.
Iran is refusing to give up the uranium and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something Trump rejected.
Iran has insisted that any deal to end the war must also end fighting between its ally Hezbollah and Israel. Israel has instead intensified its military campaign against the Lebanon-based militant group.
Price reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Will Weissert in Washington; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel; David Rising in Bangkok; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Michelle L. Price in New York; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
A man runs past burning cars following an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
People take shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missiles in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A projectile streaks through the sky over central Israel during an Iranian missile attack, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A cleric checks his cell phone on stage in front of a screen displaying portraits of the late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a pro-government gathering in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A woman walks past a mural depicting a U.S. aircraft carrier under missile attack in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
