Golovin residents are in cleanup mode as their community works to restore power, phone service and clear debris. After the flood waters receded from the weekend’s severe fall storm, some locals are left with feet of sand in their homes.
“At my place we’ve got three feet of sand we’re still shoveling out with the crew here, trying to get the sand out of the living area so we can get the sheetrock to go ahead and dry off,” Alaska Senator Donny Olson of Golovin said.
Other residents in his hometown are dealing with the same issues, according to Olson. But some of his neighbors were not as lucky and their homes were moved across town or floated away completely.
“Housing is still the major issue down here cause so many buildings have been shifted or knocked off their foundations. There are now debris including houses in the middle of the road, blocking the way, that need to be cleared before we can get the roads back open,” Olson said.
Once the storm hit the evening of Sept. 16 into the next morning, water levels rose rapidly to nine to ten feet above the normal high tide line. The National Weather Service forecast highest water levels for the evening of Sept. 17.
That same day, resident Dwight Amaktoolik posted on social media that half the community was under water and Golovin had lost power.
As of the afternoon of Sept. 19, power was partially restored in the community but not at the Golovin school, Olson said. Their priority is to maintain electricity for as many homes as possible so residents can save the subsistence food stored in their freezers.
“Because we had a number of people who had to evacuate because there was no heat in their homes. Now that we’ve got power back on we want to make sure it stays there. And then after that we make sure there’s some kind of food security situation, that we have something to eat as well as something to drink,” Olson said.
Outside agencies and organizations have been sending relief to Golovin directly, whether through the World Central Kitchen delivering food, Northern Air Cargo and Ryan Air bringing in bottled water, or even via online donations.
A Go Fund Me page was started for the community by a former teacher in Golovin. It had already raised over $5,000 in the first six hours of being posted.
“That was something to boost our… like we hadn’t been forgotten here in Golovin,” Olson said.
KYUK reported that the State of Alaska has identified Golovin as one of several communities that were impacted the most by the historic September storm.
The Alaska National Guard has deployed guardsmen and women to Western Alaska to assist with recovery efforts over the coming days.
Image at top: Golovin flooded on Sept. 17. Photo by Josephine Daniels, used with permission (2022).
