Gov. Mike Dunleavy has issued a disaster declaration after extreme cold left utilities frozen in several Northwest Arctic communities. The March 26 declaration covers Ambler, Buckland, Shungnak and Selawik. Borough officials say they are also working to include Kiana, which experienced a major freeze-up after the city’s water pipes failed.
The declaration allows the state to reimburse communities for emergency protective measures, permanent repair projects and getting utilities back online.
“The Northwest Arctic Borough has been helping out those local governments, but they just don't have the resources,” said Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesperson Jeremy Zidek. “That's where this disaster declaration became essential.”
Zidek said the declaration only covers public infrastructure and not damages to individual homes.
In the affected communities, temperatures below minus 30 led to power outages, water plant failures and broken infrastructure. In Shungnak and Selawik, water and plumbing freeze-ups have closed schools for over a month this year.
Kelly Hamilton, the Northwest Arctic Borough’s emergency manager, said the borough worked with legislators to bring more attention to the problem.
“When something happens that's not a natural disaster — like a pump freeze, or a generator quits working, or a pump can't work because there's no electricity — then that's no longer a natural disaster,” Hamilton said Kelly Hamilton. “That makes a disaster declaration process difficult.”
House District 40 Rep. Robyn Frier wrote in an email to KOTZ news that she worked with Sen. Donny Olson on communicating the need for extra funding to the governor’s office.
Frier requested the disaster declaration in a March 18 letter to Dunleavy, saying costs had already surpassed $100,000 in one community and that snow removal in Kotzebue was estimated to cost a quarter million dollars. The letter said Ambler, Shungnak, Selawik and Kotzebue had all declared formal disaster declarations and the borough had spent all available emergency funding.
The state’s disaster declaration allows local governments, tribal organizations, and certain non-profits with documented damages to apply through the state's public assistance program to be reimbursed.
Hamilton, the emergency manager, said organizations like the United Methodist Church, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Alaska Red Cross, and Food Bank of Alaska have stepped in to help people in the affected communities. She said the most critical needs, besides getting water and sewer back online, are drinking water and food.
