The force of the water blew some houses off their foundations and a house in Nome floated down a river until it was caught on a bridge. The powerful storm – what remains of Hurricane Merbok – has affected weather patterns as far away as California, where strong winds and a rare late summer storm were expected. In Alaska, no injuries or deaths were immediately reported, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Officials had warned that some parts could see the worst flooding in 50 years and that high waters could take up to 14 hours to recede. Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration during the day. The nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) storm front has destroyed roads and possibly other infrastructure, Dunleavy said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. Officials will assess any impacts to water and sewer systems, seawalls, fuel storage areas, airports and ports. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials were already in Alaska ahead of the storm, and Dunleavy said they will remain to help assess the damage. “Our goal is to get the assessments done as soon as possible,” he said. “We’re going to move as fast as we can to provide relief, to provide recovery, to provide the essentials that people need.” Among the hardest-hit communities was Golovin, a village of about 170 residents who sought refuge in a school or three buildings on a hillside. Winds in the village were gusting over 60 mph (95 km/h) and the water rose 11 feet (3.3 meters) above the normal high tide line and was expected to rise another 2 feet (60 centimeters) on Saturday before the climax. “Most of the lower part of the community is all flooded with structures and buildings flooded,” said Ed Plumb, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks. Clarabelle Lewis, the director of facilities for the tribal government, the Chinik Eskimo community, was among those who sought shelter on the hill overlooking Golovin. She and others were riding out the storm at the tribal office after securing items in their homes from the high winds and helping neighbors do the same. “The winds were howling. it was noisy,” he said. Most communities experienced wind gusts ranging from 41 mph (66 km/h) to 67 mph (108 km/h), but Cape Romanzof had peak winds of 91 mph (146 km/h), the weather service said. Lewis has never experienced such a storm in the 20 years he has lived in Golovin. “We’ve had floods in the past a few times, but never this bad,” he said. “We had never moved houses off their foundations.” There were also reports of flooding in Hooper Bay, St. Michael’s, Unalakleet and Shaktoolik, where waves crashed over the barrel in front of the community, Plumb said. In Hooper Bay, more than 250 people took shelter inside the school, Bethel public radio station KYUK reported. The village is one of the largest along the coast with almost 1,400 inhabitants. The school’s vice principal, Brittany Taraba, said three houses were blown off their foundations and large parts of the village were flooded. Residents support each other, including donating freshly caught and processed moose to feed those hosted at the school. “It’s really amazing to watch this community,” Taraba told KYUK. Plumb said the storm will cross the Bering Strait on Saturday and then head into the Chukchi Sea. “And then it will park and weaken just west of Point Hope,” he said of the community on Alaska’s northwest coast. He said there will be high water in the northern Bering Sea region until Saturday night before levels begin to recede by Sunday. Rising water levels further north in the Chukchi Sea and Kotzebue Sound areas were expected through Sunday. In Northern California, wind gusts of up to 40 mph (64 km/h) were forecast Saturday night and into Sunday morning along coastal areas from Sonoma County to Santa Cruz and higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada, it said. the weather service. Strong winds can knock down branches and drought-stressed trees and cause power outages, said weather service meteorologist Ryan Walbrun. Storms were expected to begin Sunday morning and drop up to 3 inches (7.6 cm) of rain in coastal areas of Sonoma County and slightly less as the rain moves south toward the San Francisco area and the Santa Cruz Mountains, he said. Walbrun. “It’s a pretty significant amount of rain for this early in the season,” he said, adding that the storms are forecast to continue and fade through at least Monday, making the commute wet with slick roads. In the Sierra Nevada foothills northeast of the state capital Sacramento, fire crews have battled the state’s largest wildfire so far this year. While rain is called for, the winds caused concern for crews battling the Mosquito Fire, which was 21 percent contained as of Saturday morning. “Winds will definitely cause erratic fire behavior” that could spark new hot spots despite the welcome moisture, Cal Fire spokesman Scott McLean said. “The rain is not going to put out the fire, but it will help.”
Gecker reported from San Francisco.
