Rural Alaska blog: The Village : Flood watch: Families evacuate Beaver; flood warnings along the Kuskokwim

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Kyle Hopkins

I was born in Sitka, have lived in Kake, Skagway and Fairbanks and joined the ADN in 2005 after writing for the Anchorage Press and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. I started blogging for the paper in 2006 with The Trail, our blog about the governor's race. Then came the Alaska Politics blog. Now I'm covering government and rural affairs and live in Anchorage with my wife, Rebecca. (Update: Our daughter Alice was born May 31. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.) E-mail me at khopkins@adn.com and find me on Twitter at twitter.com/ADNVillage.

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Rural blog: The Village

Flood watch: Families evacuate Beaver; flood warnings along the Kuskokwim

Posted by thevillage

Posted: May 8, 2009 - 2:46 pm

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In this Thursday photo, a cabin in the old Native village of Eagle sits amid ice after the Yukon River flood receded. (AP Photo/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Sam Harrel)

Flooding update:

-- The News-Miner reports that children, mothers and elders are evacuating the village of Beaver, downstream from Eagle on the Yukon River, today. Stevens Village plans to evacuate tomorrow.

Fort Yukon saw flooding late Thursday, but things are getting back to normal today, the paper reports. (Some houses are still surrounded by water, but the water level began to drop at about 3 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.)

The breakup front on the Yukon, which devastated Eagle Village and portions of Eagle earlier this week, is making its way down the river and could create flooding in Beaver as early as this evening, the Weather Service says.

The breakup front was about 8 miles upriver from Beaver as of about 3 p.m. today. "Significant flooding is possible," the Weather service warns. "Water levels may rise rapidly without much warning."

Farther down the Yukon, a flood warning is also in effect for the village of Ruby.

Meantime, the Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center says flood warnings are in effect for seven Kuskokwim River communities -- including Bethel.

The others are:

-- McGrath
-- Kalskag
-- Tuluksak
-- Akiak
-- Kwethluk
-- Napakiak

About a third of the runway in Tuluksak was flooded as of about 1:40 p.m., but the Weather Service says no homes are in danger – for now.

UPDATE: This from the State Emergency Coordination Center: Meals-ready-to-eat & water containers are headed for Circle. The city of Bethel is asking for sand bags.

The city of Eagle is asking for porta-potties.

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