Kotzebue City Manager Tessa Baldwin said the city has a three-person crew working “around the clock,” but snow and high winds are disrupting some of the city’s key infrastructure, causing power outages and a city-wide boil water notice.
“We had a power outage which has caused a boil water notice and an extreme amount of snow,” Baldwin said. “It’s been extremely hard for our emergency responders to get to all places in the city.”
Baldwin, a lifelong resident of Kotzebue, said these storms have been a “unique situation” and doesn’t believe the city has experienced this much snow in decades. In a letter to Borough Mayor Dickie Moto, Baldwin said 76 of the city’s fire hydrants were completely buried under snow. On Tuesday, Moto allocated $50,000 in disaster relief funding to hire local contractors to help with snow removal.As of Wednesday morning, the city warned residents to continue to boil drinking water. It was the second boil water notice issued within the last two weeks.
The city’s water reserves are currently below what Baldwin calls “a comfortable level.” The city is urging residents to conserve water and reduce their consumption.
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