Emmonak Flooded Yesterday

But the focus late Saturday was on downriver villages of Emmonak and Alakanuk. Water rose rapidly in both communities Friday night, and villagers were bracing for more high water today. Emmonak has more than 700 residents, and Alakanuk has just over 600. State emergency management officials are monitoring the situation closely.

Many houses in the villages had several feet of river water around them Saturday night, but the water appeared to be going down, residents reported. Flooding is common in the region this time of year as the river breaks up, and many dwellings sit on pilings several feet above the tundra.

Utilities in Emmonak were still functioning, though earlier in the day water rose within 6 inches of the power plant, said city manager Martin B. Moore, Sr.

No one from either community had been evacuated, and the water levels were within the norm for spring flood conditions, said Ben Balk, a Weather Service hydrologist in Anchorage who was tracking the river's breakup. Moore said Emmonak opened a school building as a shelter in case the flooding worsened. As of 8 p.m. Saturday, only one family was using it.

The road to the Emmonak airport was underwater much of the day, but the runway, which is on higher ground, was clear. Passengers were being ferried by boat. In the rest of the village, people were still able to travel by truck or four-wheeler, Moore said.

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Emmonak sits in the midst of a fan-shaped delta about 10 miles from the sea. Many residents spent the day watching the river, where ice chunks the size of houses floated by. Children canoed through the streets. People get a charge out of break-up, Moore explained. They were busy checking their boats and thinking about summer.