ANCHORAGE — Power has been restored to the village of Newtok in southwestern Alaska after the community’s only generator malfunctioned over the weekend.
The village was supplied with electricity around 9 p.m. Wednesday after a temporary replacement generator was brought in Tuesday, KTUU-TV reported. Newtok residents had been without power since Saturday, when the 25-year-old generator broke down.
During the outage, the local school had functioned as an emergency shelter and people burned cardboard to heat their homes.
Grant Kashatok, the school’s principal, said the number of residents seeking shelter at the school started to gradually increase as the village’s supply of wood and burnable materials began to dwindle.
“I think we had about 200 people Monday come in just to warm up,” said Kashatok.
The community had consulted with the Alaska Energy Authority and decided not to have the old generator fixed.
“It was found that the safest, most expedient option for residents of Newtok to get power was to send an emergency unit to the community,” said Emily Ford, energy policy and outreach manager for AEA.
Nearly $30,000 has been spent in getting emergency power restored to Newtok, according to the AEA.
A permanent replacement generator is being stored in Anchorage. The state just needs to figure out a way to transport the 2,500 pound machine.
