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By Erik Ortiz, Staff Writer, NBC News

A warmer winter is being blamed for the mammoth Alaskan avalanche that has cut off a port city’s sole road to the outside — stoking fears of flash floods and future landslides.

Snowy debris hundreds of feet long and up to 40 feet deep slammed onto Valdez’s Richardson Highway early Friday and again on Saturday. The 50-mile stretch of rural road might not be reopened for a week, and observers say a collapse of this magnitude appears unprecedented for the area.

“This avalanche cycle is a historically significant event,” said Sarah Carter, education coordinator and forecaster with the Alaska Avalanche Information Center in Valdez. She said it’s not uncommon to see avalanches, but the abnormal, above-freezing temperatures over the past 10 days – coupled with the rainfall – have weakened the snow pack. Valdez was forecasted to have a high of 41 degrees and low of 40 degrees on Monday — a far cry from the arctic blast that has plunged much of the country, including the South, into a dangerous cold. Some parts of Alaska could even be in the lower 60s this week, according to reports.

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