Fall storm damages houses in Kotzebue and Northwest Alaska villages

A fall storm inundated streets with water and caused flight interruptions and damage to several houses in Kotzebue on Tuesday, local officials and residents said.

The storm started moving into Alaska’s west coast on Sunday, affecting several communities, said Dustin Saltzman, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Fairbanks. In Kotzebue, water levels rose between 2 and 4 feet above the normal high tide line and came 30 feet farther inland, Saltzman said. Winds have been blowing at up to 35 mph, with gusts up to 55 mph, according to the weather service.

By Tuesday in Kotzebue, multiple streets and homes, especially on the north and east side of town, were affected by severe flooding, city manager Tessa Baldwin said. The city declared an emergency and requested a similar declaration from the Northwest Arctic Borough, to allow the municipality to start securing funds to address the consequences of the storm.

“Kotzebue has experienced sudden, catastrophic flooding in the last several days due to high winds and water surges,” city officials said in the letter to the borough Mayor Dickie Moto. “This unprecedented flooding has created a public health emergency resulting in, among other things, evacuations of residents from the impacted areas.”

City officials said they were working with the borough school district and the Maniilaq Association to establish evacuation centers.

“Arrangements are being made to ensure access to water, food, and housing for those displaced,” city officials said in a statement.

High winds were pushing ice onto two runways at the Ralph Wien Memorial Airport, making the airport inaccessible and complicating response efforts, city officials said.

Alaska Airlines canceled service on Monday and Tuesday, and Bering Air flights were also impacted, Baldwin said.

Photos and videos were circulating across social media Tuesday, showing turbulent waves, damaged infrastructure, and water approaching residential structures in Kotzebue. Several tents were seen floating in the water near the North Tent City fish camp.

“Never in my 53 years of life have I seen such high water!” resident Lance Kramer said. “And it’s still coming in.”

City officials said that remediation efforts will “undoubtedly be in the six-figure-plus range,” and added that it is challenging to estimate a more exact cost at this point.

Residents displaced by the storm were asked to contact Sam Camp at 907-412-2007. To report impacts, residents can reach out to customerservice@kotzebue.org and 907-442-3351, Baldwin said.

The Kotzebue coastal flood advisory was in effect until Wednesday morning. The storm was expected to peak Tuesday and recede in the coming days, according to the weather service.

In Kivalina, a flooding advisory was also in effect until Wednesday morning, and some low-lying areas were inundated. On Monday, the community was seeing gusts of over 50 mph, with water levels over 5 feet above high tide and some erosion, Saltzman said.

The storm caused some boats to float away and metal to come off some roofs in the community, but by Tuesday, the weather was calming down, said first responder and Fire Chief Replogle Swan Sr.

“We have very high water but the wind died down,” Swan said. “Water is going over the beach still. Good thing we went and pulled the boats higher.”

While Kivalina might see winds pick up on Tuesday afternoon, the storm was forecast to die down and move inland into the evening and overnight, Saltzman said.