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Some Aleknagik residents were in the dark for days as snow slowed crews working to restore power

Ali Eskelin

Update: Power was restored to Nushagak Cooperative's service area on Saturday afternoon. Some people hadn't had reliable power since early Monday morning due to days of heavy snow and high winds that knocked out power, toppled trees and cut off phone service.

Update: Power was restored to Nushagak Cooperative's service area on Saturday afternoon, according to an update on Facebook. People who are still experiencing a power outage can call the cooperative at 907-842-5251, or 907-842-5555 after hours.

Nushagak Cooperative asks people not to connect generators to their meter base without an approved disconnect device, like a transfer switch. Connecting the generator to the meter base could endanger the crew and others near downed power lines. 

After a bout of clear skies and extreme cold in November, Bristol Bay’s weather has taken a dramatic turn in December as two storms hit the region with high winds and heavy snow. Crews are still restoring power from storm-caused outages that hit earlier this week. Some residents have gone days without power. 

Days of heavy snow and high winds knocked out power, toppled trees and cut off phone service around Dillingham and Aleknagik earlier this week.

Credit Cody Larson
Thursday's snowfall in Aleknagik. Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021.

As of Thursday afternoon, around 120 residences, offices and other buildings served by Nushagak Cooperative were still without power. Crew members and volunteers have been battling heavy snow to clear downed trees from the power lines.

Crews restored power about 14 miles up the road toward Aleknagik Wednesday night. They also restored cell phone service and some landlines in the community. 

But the storm broke a high voltage power line that crosses the Wood River, which means power likely won't be restored in Aleknagik until Friday evening, said Electric Operations Manager Will Chaney.

Aleknagik resident Katherine Andrew said she had just arrived home after a late work shift shortly after midnight Monday when her power went out.

“I think I'll be one of the last to get power back because I live on an island," she said. "And I don't know if they know that our powerline is in Pike Bay right now. It's touching the ice.”

Andrew said she’s lucky — she has a working wood stove, and she’s been living in a dry cabin.

“I’ve already been living without running water for over a year now because I live in a cabin that doesn't have running water," she said. "I’m used to it with power, though.”

Andrew said she and her family are using a generator to charge their headlamps and phones, which they’re using as flashlights.

Todd Parker, a pastor with the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Dillingham, said when he heard that people didn’t have power earlier this week, he decided to make his way to Aleknagik to see if he could help.

“We had a friend that lived up there and he’d been putting on Facebook that he’d been out of power for 17 hours," Parker said. "So we thought, you know, we’ve got to do something.”

Parker said he gave a few people a ride to family members in Dillingham. 

Meanwhile, the Aleknagik School opened for classes Thursday morning after the district got its generator up and running on Tuesday. Its water came back Wednesday night, and community members can use the restrooms and shower. The school is also serving hot beverages and food. 

Credit Ali Eskelin
Aleknagik Lake Road during a brief reprieve from two blizzards. Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021.

Southwest Region Superintendent Steve Noonkesser said people have come through for each other in a tough situation.

“I’ve gotten to see the Alaska I grew up in the last couple days," he said. "It’s been really neat to see the dedication of the line crews, the volunteers out helping get the power back up, people working together, people kind of pulling together to make things happen.”

Nushagak Cooperative Operations Manager Trung Vo said Thursday morning that crews from the Bristol Bay Native Association forestry division, the Southwest Region School District, and a group of volunteers cut fallen trees to clear the power lines, despite the latest storm.  

“Most of the whole BBNA team were on snow gos, so snow’s not going to stop those guys," he said. "Definitely a lot more snow, but we will be trucking along.” 

Forestry program Manager Frank Woods said they’ve been out since Monday. 

“And now it’s storming again, so we’re still scrambling to help them get power to Aleknagik right now," he said. "Our crew is still gung-ho helping in this emergency situation up there.”

Credit Ali Eskelin
Measuring snowfall in Aleknagik earlier this week. Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021.

Climate Specialist Rick Thoman with the University of Alaska Fairbanks said down on the Alaska Peninsula, the mid-week storm also brought extreme winds gusting up to 80 miles per hour, battering areas to the southwest of Port Heiden.

But all these clouds have a silver lining.

“Now the good news is that this storm is on it’s high horse, and it’s going to move very rapidly across Ugashik Bay, across the Alaska Peninsula, and will be south of Seward by early Friday morning,” Thoman said.

That means conditions across the region will change rapidly.

“Winds are going to snap around to the north and going to pull some of that cold air that’s sitting back to the north back into the region," he said. "Be chilly for a few days, some of those snow showers will linger through Friday. But we are definitely not in that static pattern that we were in November.”

Thoman said another significant Bering Sea storm headed to the region early next week will bring moderate temperatures — and more snow.

Contact the author at izzy@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.

Izzy Ross is the news director at KDLG, the NPR member station in Dillingham. She reports, edits, and hosts stories from around the Bristol Bay region, and collaborates with other radio stations across the state.
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