Buckland Flooding

The small town of Buckland Alaska made the news in the month of May, but it wasn’t a good thing. Major flooding caused the town of just over 400 inhabitants to declare a disaster. Buckland is about 75 southeast of Kotzebue, in the far north of Alaska. 

Every spring, rivers around Alaska start to melt and waters rise, but this year things didn’t go normally.  Buckland river was dammed up by giant chunks of ice just upriver from the small town, which was the cause of the massive flooding. 

Thankfully no injuries were reported, although several homes were damaged by the flooding. Since a disaster was declared, state funds were opened up to help the people of Buckland. Nearby businesses also pitched in to help this small community. 

Two locations were offered as shelters in the village, one being for COVID quarantine. It can be difficult to give aid to isolated villages in a disaster but Alaskans are up to the task!

Photo: Nathan Hadley Jr. via AP--Vice Mayor of Buckland

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