Background Articles

Teller is considering moving to a new subdivision site to avoid flood zones and eventually connect to water and sewer systems, with the project estimated to be completed by summer 2025.

August flooding in Juneau has resulted in severe damage to private homes. After such events physical damage to buildings and homes are obvious. What do the experts say about mental health challenges after events such as the Mendenhall Glacier event?

Melting permafrost will increase the maintenance costs for critical infrastructure by $15.5 billion by mid-century but unable to prevent some $21.6 billion in damages. Nearly 70% of current infrastructure located on permafrost is at risk, including major oil and gas fields, pipelines, and mines.

The Hokksund family in Drammen, Norway, has experienced flooding in their living room for the second time and may not be able to return home until next year due to ongoing flooding in the area.

Due to recent flooding, FEMA assessors will work with state, local and tribal officials to determine if federal aid is warranted with flood and erosion damage.

“We started seeing structural timber,” one resident said. “And then I was like, ‘Oh, my God. That’s from houses upstream.'”

Extreme weather events like Typhoon Merbok are becoming more common, and many Alaska communities are wondering about the future.

Scientists from Moscow State University have studied the Lorino cliff in the Chukotka region and discovered that the rapid retreat of the coast is due to the reduction of sea ice, and they recommend that villagers prepare for the transfer of coastal structures further inland.

Electric heat pumps help homeowners swap fossil fuel for renewable energy. To spread heat pumps across the region, Allen Marine is collecting small donations from thousands of visitors that pass through Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan on their whale watching and glacier tours each year.

The Quebec government has allocated over $2 million to research and develop a plan to adapt public housing in Nunavik to the effects of thawing permafrost, which can cause damage to units built on jacks.

The state’s rural areas lead the world in renewably powered microgrids. So if the grid of the future is being incubated in rural Alaska, can urban Alaska, like the Railbelt, benefit from some of these strategies and lessons learned?

Tenants in the Forest Park trailer court say they have few, if any, affordable options. Some officials see a warning sign of a worsening housing crisis to come.

The new project with drone maker DJI will try to get a bigger picture than fieldwork trips with more frequent, automated drone flights.

Since the first big winter storms, snow on the western Kenai Peninsula has collapsed roofs, broken gas meters and raised backcountry avalanche risk. “I think we can safely say that this was the most snow in any winter for the northwest Kenai Peninsula since the winter of 2011, 2012,” said Rick Thoman.

Anchorage municipal officials say at least 16 roofs have buckled in the city this winter under heavy snow and ice, and they’re wary of additional collapses after another storm dropped more snow this weekend.

The State of Alaska recently received $38 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to ease the burden of climate change. The money was made available through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program. These funds are aimed at helping communities better rebound from presidentially declared disasters, but Salazar says the state will be allowed to allocate the new funds for preventative measures.

The relocation between from Newtok to Mertavik has taken time and community members stay patient as local, state, and federal agencies figure out the complex funding and logistical hurdles.

In 2016 Renato Alberti, who had overseen the structure for 35 years, noticed a vertical crack in one of the outer walls. Alberti, now age 67, filled the gap with repair foam, but the crack reopened after only a few days. Alberti thought something unusual must be happening. Perhaps the mountain was becoming unstable.

About 800 people have had to leave their homes due to the risk of avalanches in East Iceland.

Libraries at two Anchorage elementary schools — Klatt and Spring Hill — were closed after the maintenance department identified ceiling damage. The district also decided “out of an abundance of caution” to proactively close the libraries of Bear Valley Elementary, Fire Lake Elementary, and Ravenwood Elementary, which share the same building design with Klatt and Spring Hill.