Several communities in the Norton Sound are struggling with contaminated drinking water days after the significant September storm hit the region.

The heavy rains and high water from storm Murdok today and Monday are contributing to the erosion of the old landfill and river bank.

The aftermath of Typhoon Merbok left fuel tanks floating and home flooded, but locals also saw an opportunity.

Shaktoolik has lost its berm to the storm that’s hammered Western Alaska over the weekend, according to Mayor Lars Sookiayak. The berm was all that protected the small village from the sea. “It really saved us from the first hit that came in this morning,” one resident said. 

Storms can bring a bounty to the beach - driftwood sometimes or in this case, clams! But be careful out there. There are new concerns about emerging levels of harmful algae in Western Alaska waters, which could impact shellfish and human health.

A historically powerful storm slammed into Western Alaska Friday night and into Saturday, bringing major flooding and high winds to a huge swath of coastal communities. By Saturday evening, the state said it had received no reports of injuries or deaths related to the storm. But damage had torn across hundreds of miles of Alaska’s coastline impacting communities all along the way. Alaskans described water flooding homes and roads. Wind tore off roofs. Houses floated off their foundations. Boats sank.

On September 17, 2023 Typhoon Merbok hit the coast of Tununak, Alaska. Here are some photos taken by Roseanne Panruk, after the storm caused by Typhoon Merbok

Federal officials have declared a drought-related disaster in Rhode Island while New England’s second-largest city is restricting outdoor water use as the drought in the Northeast worsens.

August 9, 2022 Borough officials said multiple roads were closed Tuesday and more were being monitored after several days of rain.

Eight counties on the coast have gone from moderate to severe drought status since last week, according to the latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Meanwhile, almost one-third of the state remains in moderate drought, and wells across the state are beginning to run dry.

According to RCMP, 34 vehicles were damaged Monday — down from an earlier estimate of 70 — while numerous people suffered minor injuries. Three collisions were caused by the storm, police said.

Utqiagvik, Alaska, formerly known as Barrow, saw its most rain in a single day, while Fairbanks was raked by high winds.

There has been alot of heavy weather hitting western Alaska this summer. Here are photos from recent storm surge in Kotzebue.

Local power supplies were cut off, apartment buildings were flooded, cars were seen being washed away and a river overflowed, leading to one civilian death and several injuries.

Anchorage has already seen nearly 4 inches of rain so far this month, the weather service says.

Many boats had to be secured & moved this morning. Hoping winds & rain slow down, but in the forecast.

An extreme winter rainstorm in New Zealand triggered one of the largest avalanche cycles observed in decades, raising questions about the risk of more hazardous events under climate change.

Nunavut is being hit with lightning from top to bottom because a “pretty significant heat wave” created the right conditions for a phenomenon that’s ordinarily uncommon in the North, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada says. Since Saturday, there have been reports of lightning strikes as far north as 79 degrees latitude.

There were 4,500 lightning strikes in Alaska Tuesday — the latest in a run of days with thousands of ground strikes. There were also another 13 new, primarily lightning sparked wildfires in the state Tuesday, mostly in the Interior. The lightning storms have coincided with very dry conditions.