Nome Mayor John Handeland said during Sunday’s city emergency operations meeting that Northern Air Cargo, other freight carriers and the Alaska National Guard would be delivering bottled water and supplies to communities without drinking water.
-As water levels receded Sunday, residents in the Bering Strait region began taking stock of the damage done by the strongest fall storm to hit Western Alaska in 50 years. Sea berms were destroyed, homes were flooded or knocked off their foundations, and drinking water sources were contaminated.
Teller did still experience rising water levels from the three surrounding water sources, and some subsequent erosion. But Garnie says the damage was not nearly as bad as predicted. “NAC does have a couple freighters that are scheduled to come our way,” Handeland said. “Their first load, sounds like it’s going to be bottled water that needs to get out into communities around our area. The biggest concern that I mentioned to the governor and General Saxe is probably the food supply and getting the bypass mail, and cargo going.”
“We can say for sure, this was the highest storm surge for Nome since the great November 1974 storm,” Thoman said. “This was about eight inches higher than the Bering Sea superstorm in 2011.”With those rising water levels on Saturday, a house from Belmont Point was swept into the Snake River and trapped under the bridge.