Governor Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration for the 2022 September storm impacting the west coast of Alaska. The disaster declaration activates the State Emergency Operations Plan, bringing together a coordinated statewide response to the communities impacted by this storm.
Extreme winds and coastal sea surge have impacted several communities. The State Emergency Operation Center has received reports of flooded homes, roads and airports, along with power outages and infrastructure damage. Communities, having activated their emergency response plans prior to the storm, took steps to prepare. They are now actively engaged in response operations, including sheltering support for displaced residents.
In a press conference Sunday evening, Governor Dunleavy said:
“We’re working through our assessment. Obviously, the storm had a great impact in that part of the state. We’ve got people focused on making sure that we get a complete assessment ASAP. We would anticipate that by tomorrow (Monday), we will be marshalling resources that will quickly be on the ground and will begin the process of helping people recover from this quickly. As mentioned, we’ve got about three weeks before freeze up, we’re very cognizant of that. So, we will move as quickly as possible and we’ll be focusing on the communities that have really received damage and really need the help the most, but all communities will be reviewed and wherever there is help that is needed, we’ll be getting that help there as soon as possible.”
DMVA Commissioner Torrence Saxe said:
“We’re doing what’s called the spoke and wheel concept. We want the folks in the villages, they can help there, but we also want to go out to those hubs so we can get out to the local areas more quickly. Some of the duties are going to be search and rescue, debris removal, and just helping with community damage assessments. I’m sure there will be more things that we will do, but there’s a start. It is critical to have boots on the ground, so we want to start this today.”
The SEOC, in coordination with municipal, tribal, and Borough Incident Commands, is working with a full range of volunteer, private-sector, tribal, state, and federal government emergency response partners to provide needed resources and disaster support. This includes the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Calista Corporation, Bering Strait Native Corporation, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, Association of Village Council Presidents, Samaritan’s Purse, United States Coast Guard, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Civil Air Patrol, Alaska National Guard, and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Bryan Fisher, Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said:
“Through these assessments that we’re doing, we’ll be able to move forward with a request for federal assistance for the long-term financial needs that we’ll have and the communities will have for rebuilding and reconstructing to get through this back to a semblance of normalcy after all the damage that we saw.”
At this time SEOC has not received any reports of injuries or fatalities.
Click here to view the Governor’s press conference(s).
