South Dakota is not the only state dealing with flooding due to heavy spring rains. Two rivers are flooding the community of Galen, Alaska and causing mass evacuations. Officials say nearly every home has been affected. Conditions are reported to be extremely dangerous and residents fear that communities downstream could face flooding as well. The Alaska Red Cross is asking for help.
Richard Smith is the Executive Director of the Black Hills Chapter of the Red Cross. He says his Chapter is sending help to Alaska immediately.
“They started to have some ice flow that’s started to move and it’s created some blockage on a river and that is now starting to back-up in some of the communities. These are remote villages that you can only get to via plane. And so what they’ve requested is some folks who can come in, work a little bit autonomous in those areas and provide assistance to those folks as folks are evacuated out of their homes,” says Smith.
Smith says they are sending the Black Hills Chapter Emergency Services Director Dan Kuecker. Kuecker has flown to Fairbanks to provide a leadership role to assess basic needs like making sure that evacuees are fed regularly and have a nice warm place to stay. Red Cross officials say they will then begin implementing long-term recovery plans so residents can get back in their homes.