Whelp, as many of you probably heard (it even made national news I understand, if you didn't read it all over facebook), the western Alaska coast was hit with one of its biggest storms it has had in many, many years. They were calling it the big "Super Storm". It was pretty super, although Unalakleet didn't get pounded quite as badly as other villages along the coast.
I stayed with my friend Sue Bruckner in her 3rd story apartment. The first night we got hit with high winds. With consistent winds in the 60 mph range battering the building and being on the 3rd floor, I felt like I was in a constant Californian earthquake - brought me back to my childhood :)
The next day was when the real danger came: coastal flooding. Unalakleet sits at near eye level with the ocean. High west winds and high seas caused by the storm meant an extremely high flooding risk for most villages along the coast. The water started rising in the morning and rose quickly. By high tide in the early afternoon, the water was high enough to start flooding a few of the lowest lying areas in town.
Standing on the high road by the ocean with water coming right up to the edge of the road. That's Daniel Soxie's fish rack.
The point by the mouth of the river is one of the most susceptible areas to flooding, therefore it was evacuated and closed off.
By the Cannery and AC (the local grocery store) near the mouth of the river they started building a wall of snow to protect against rapidly rising waters.
Across from the point there is one home and many fish camps, a few more feet rise in the water level and it would have been submerged.
Before the storm hit, we moved the dogs up to their winter lot because where they stay in the summer was too susceptible to flooding.
Photo taken by: Kristen Erickson Mashiana
The summer dog lot.
The dog houses were put on the poles to keep them from floating away if the water were to get high enough. Sadly, a few houses were already floating away before we could get to all of them.
The second high tide of the day was to bring even higher sea levels and stronger west winds that would send big waves crashing into our village. An evacuation was issued and all we could do was wait it out. Through numerous prayers and God's grace, the expected flooding never happened. God was faithful to our pleas, praise Him!!
In the end, the village of Unalakleet weathered the storm well, as did the dogs.
Sadly, the puppies did not do as well.
The Parvovirus is a very life threatening virus for young pups, especially without vaccination. According to the vet in Nome, Dr. Leedy, he suspects Parvo is going to be a major problem in the villages this year. Our pups were apparently exposed to it and it spread quickly. Since there are no vets in town our vaccinations must come from Nome (by plane of course). Because of the storm, we were unable to get the vaccine in time. We went into the storm with 22 pups, by last night the virus had taken its toll and now we are down to 9.
I'm devastated to say the least, but such is the nature of mushing and kennels in the bush of Alaska. It's a hard truth to accept, but one I have to accept nonetheless.
We still have 3 sick puppies out of the 9, but we have dewormed and vaccinated them (we got the Parvo vaccine today, Yippee!), gave them new straw and housing, and now just have to wait and hope it's enough.
Needless to say, my prayer life has been alive and well! :)
