Video: Ben Balk, a Hydrologist with the National Weather Service, talks to residents about current conditions in Kwethluk on a River Watch flight.

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UPDATE: Gov. Sarah Palin went to Eagle on the Yukon today to check out the flood damage, while a few people in the Kuskokwim River village of Kwethluk have fled to Bethel.

(Click here for Palin's Twitter page.)

Kwethluk is a town of about 700 people 12 miles east of Bethel.

School was canceled in five villages in the region because of the flooding, APRN reports.

Here's the latest update from the state:

-- Flood waters have receded in Akiak and all evacuated residents will return to the community this evening.

-- Stevens Village is flooding. The (state) has received a request from the village for emergency items and is working to fill that order. Items requested include food, potable water, cots, sleeping bags, fuel and other items. The 25 people that remain in the village have moved to high ground at the airport and school.

-- Kwethluk evacuated 39 people as a precautionary measure. 19 are being sheltered at the Bethel Head Start facility, 20 are staying with friends or family. The Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is providing immediate food assistance to those at the Head Start Facility.

-- Two River Watch teams are conducting aerial observations on the Middle Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers.

-- The Tanana Chiefs Conference has evacuated people from Stevens Village, Beaver and Koyukuk, and is provided emergency assistance to communities along the Yukon River.

-- The Department of Transportation has reported that the runway in Red Devil has been restored to normal operation. DOT reports that part of Tuluksak runway was flooded.

-- The Alaska Army National Guard has dispatched four 400 gallon water tanks to Eagle. Two water tanks will depart from Fairbanks and two from Anchorage. These water tanks will remain in Eagle until the community water is potable.

-- Response activities continue in Eagle. State, non-profit, and tribal entities are providing assistance to flood victims. The Department of Health and Social Services is sending a Mid-level Health Care Practitioner to Eagle.

-- The American Red Cross of Alaska continues to operate an emergency shelter in Eagle at the Eagle Community School.

-- The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has issued a boil water notice for the following areas: in Red Devil, the Kuspuk School District’s George Willis senior school; in Aniak, the Sackett Center as well as all state regulated systems in Akiak, Eagle, Circle and Beaver. DEC recommends that all residents using private wells in Akiak, Aniak, Eagle, Circle, Ft. Yukon, Beaver and Stevens Village boil their water prior to consumption.

ORIGINAL POST:

The breakup front that has been crawling down the Yukon River like an inchworm flooded Stevens Village over the weekend before moving downriver.

The National Weather Service has declared flood warnings along the river from the village of Beaver downriver to Tanana, and a flood watch from Tanana to Nulato, according to the agency's Web site and hydrologist Ed Plumb.

Water levels upriver from Tanana have reached record levels over the past week, the Weather Service reports.

Meantime, over on the Kuskokwim, the Weather Service has a flood warning for seven communities including Bethel.

Homes in Stevens Village are either flooded or surrounded by water, the Weather Service says. Most people who live in Stevens Village (population: 71) have been evacuated, according to the Associated Press.

“We can’t get a hold of anyone (there). The phones aren’t working,” Plumb said this morning from Fairbanks.

The power plant has been shut down and an old air strip is underwater, though the Weather Service expected flood levels to gradually fall in the village today.

Here’s what happened there: On Saturday night, an ice jam formed about 11 miles downriver from the Yukon River bridge. (The bridge, in turn, is about 30 miles downriver from Stevens Village, according to Plumb.)

That acted like a dam, backing up water at Stevens Village and the bridge. The Department of Transportation and others say ice and water levels at the bridge appeared to be the highest ever recorded.

But the ice jam broke about 24 hours later, roughly 1 a.m. today, sending that water downriver.

KUSKOKWIM RIVER

According to the Weather Service:

Most roads in Akiak were underwater as of Sunday night, and the river was still slowly on the rise.

UPDATE: A news release from the state says "virtually all the homes" in Akiak were surrounded by water when Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell visited there Saturday. Phones & electricity were out, and more than 100 people had spent the night at the school gym.

No flooding in Akiachak as of last night, but there was water building because of an ice dam between the village and Akiak. When that jam breaks, it could pose a flood threat to communities downriver.

Meantime, the water level slightly rose overnight in Kwethluk, creeping over more low-lying roads in the village. Vehicles and sled dogs have been moved to higher ground, and the school is stocked with food, according to the state.

The Weather Service has a flood warning going for:

-- Akiak
-- Akiachak
-- Kwethluk
-- Bethel
-- Oscarville
-- Napaskiak
-- Napakiak