Gov. Palin will remain in Alaska this weekend

Gov. Sarah Palin will not be attending the white House Correspondents Dinner this weekend, nor will she be able to be at Alaska House in New York City to promote Alaskan salmon and seafood products. Also cancelled are several meetings she had scheduled in Washington, D.C., including one with her signature gas line project on the agenda.

This morning the governor had tweeted:

"In the air, on my way out to Interior AK to see extent of damage caused by most severe flooding in recent AK history."

The governor knew the damage to the town of Eagle and other areas along the Yukon River and two of its tributaries, was even bad before taking to the air to survey it. She had declared the flooded interior a disaster area yesterday. After making her survey of the area, Gov. Palin this afternoon cancelled her plans to visit the east coast over the weekend. Instead, husband Todd Palin will represent her at the correspondents dinner and the Alaska House events.

How bad is the flooding? Palin communications director Bill McAllister told CNN:

"It's basically wiped out a town."

The flooding is the worst on record in the state of Alaska. The governor's news release is here.

- JP