ANCHORAGE, Alaska — One of the strongest storms to hit western Alaska in nearly 40 years battered coastal communities Wednesday with snow and hurricane-force winds, knocking out power, ripping up roofs and forcing some residents to board up their windows and seek higher ground.
As the storm churned the Bering Sea, residents and emergency responders braced for a possible surge of seawater into already-soaked villages along the coast.
“People out there are used to extreme weather, but this is not a normal storm,” said Jeremy Zidek, spokesman for the state’s emergency-management agency. “This is of a magnitude that can be a storm of record, extremely dangerous, and the state is treating it as such.”
Water has reached homes in at least four Native villages, including Tunu nak and Kipnuk, state emergency managers said. Zidek noted there had been no reports of injuries and that damage had been largely limited to blown-out windows and battered roofs.
The Associated Press
Photo: The Associated Press
