P.O. Box 90
‘Quinhagak, Alaska 99655,
City of Quinhagak eee
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF QUINHAGAK
Resolution no. 23-02
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF QUINHAGAK DECLARING A DISASTER AND REQUESTING STATE
ASSISTANCE FOLLOWING THE POWER OUTAGE STARTING DECEMBER 8, 2023
WHEREAS: the city of Quinhagak is a second class in an unorganized borough within the Bethel
Census Area and located on the Kanektok River, and is only accessible by plane or seasonally by boat and
snowmachine; and
WHEREAS: on Friday, December 8, 2023, the community's AVEC electric plant went down,
leaving the entire community without power; and
WHEREAS: the loss of electrical power has led to the disabling of water and sewer services,
including the freezing of the water transmission line between the city’s water plant and utility building
on the evening of December 10, 2023; and
WHEREAS: a heat trace failure resulting in the freezing of a half mile long raw water intake line
from the city’s main infiltration gallery on the evening of December 11, 2023, exacerbating the water
supply crisis; and
WHEREAS: lack of electric power has resulted in the freezing of the city’s south main water
distribution loop; and
WHEREAS: numerous expensive electric lft station pumps which service individual homes are
now frozen and inoperable; and
WHEREAS: the extreme cold weather has caused freezing of pipes, resulting in burst pipes in
homes and rendering residential water plumbing inoperable; and
‘WHEREAS: current fiscal year budgets to purchase parts and pay for labor necessary to thaw and
repair these critical infrastructures are not sufficient to address the ongoing crisis; and
WHEREAS: the freezing conditions have caused homes to become uninhabitable, leading to
temporary displacement of residents who are forced to seek shelter at the school and/or relatives due to
the lack of heat;
NOW THEREFORE, |, Jerilyn Kelly of the City of Quinhagak, do hereby declare a state of disaster
‘emergency per AS 26.23.140 to exist in the City of Quinhagak.
FURTHERMORE, it is requested that the governor of the State of Alaska declare a disaster
‘emergency to exist as described in AS 26.23 and provide disaster assistance to the City of
Quinhagak in its response for recovery from this event. The city specifically requests disaster reliefto cover labor, parts, and equipment needed to make temporary and permanent repairs to the
city’s water and sewer infrastructure due to damages incurred from the multi-day electric outage
combined with current freezing temperatures. The City of Quinhagak also requests funding to
perform needed repairs to restore home plumbing systems damaged due to these circumstances.
Adopted this 13th day of December 2023.
uinhragak City Council
Jefliyn Kelly, Mayor