Kotzebue as well as The Northwest Arctic Borough have declared an emergency following a string of severe snow storms struck western Alaska. Kotzebue Mayor Tessa Baldwin said the city is home to a three-person team that works “around all hours,” but snow and high winds have disrupted some of the city’s major infrastructure, leading to power outages and a general boil-water notice.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We experienced an outage of power that led to a boil-water notice and a significant amount of snowfall” Baldwin said. “It’s extremely difficult for emergency personnel to reach all locations within downtown.” .”
The first storm swept through the region in February. It was followed by another storm on the weekend with winds of up to 55 speed. The snow is over 20 feet in certain areas.
Baldwin who has been a long-time resident of Kotzebue said that the recent storms are an “unique circumstance” she doesn’t know if that the city has ever seen this amount of snow in the past.
Its style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We saw fiveor six-foot drifts along our main streets, then in the streets behind,” they said. “We were looking at anything between 15and 20 feet snow drifts. My home was entirely covered by snow. You wouldn’t be able to tell there was a home under all the blanket of snow. .”
In a letter addressed to the Borough Mayor Dickie Moto, Baldwin said that 76 of the city’s fire water hydrants were totally covered in snow. The mayor announced on Tuesday that Moto provided $50,000 worth of disaster relief money to pay local contractors to assist in snow removal.
As on Wednesday morning the city was advising residents to continue boiling their water for drinking. This it was only the second boil water alert issued in two weeks.
Baldwin stated that the city’s brand new water supply system that was first running in the month of November, had been waiting on an element for its backup generator prior to the storm struck. According to Baldwin Kotzebue’s frequent power outages indicate that the water supply of the city is being weakened and could lead to the drainage of sediments and other pollutants to get into the drinking water supply of the city.
The city’s water reserves are less than what Baldwin describes as “a adequate threshold.” Baldwin is asking citizens to use less water, and cut down on the amount they use.
The accumulation of snow is also a major concern for the city. Baldwin stated that flooding when the snow melts could cause a health risk for the public. Kotzebue has no sewer system to drain the water, but she warned that the runoff from spring could overwhelm the city’s sewer system.
There could be more snow coming. Baldwin states that his Northwest Arctic is preparing for another storm that could arrive on Thursday.
