Coastal Flood — Baldwin Peninsula, Alaska

2025-10-08 to 2025-10-09 · Baldwin Peninsula, Alaska

Event narrative

An emergency manager in Kotzebue received a report at 09:46 local time of water just shy of the road the city uses to trigger mandatory evacuation orders (the road name was not specified). Later that day, the City of Kotzebue issued a evacuation order at 12:05 local time advising residents in low-lying areas to seek shelter at the Kotzebue Middle/High School. That night, 103 people were successfully sheltered overnight and 6 residents were displaced. Additionally, the Kotzebue Sound Tide Gauge reported water levels at 5.74 ft at 17:00 local time on October 8th. In total, 52 homes sustained water damage and needed to be repaired.

Wider weather episode

A low pressure system over the Western Aleutian Islands moved into the central Bering Sea the night of Sunday, October 6th, rapidly intensifying into a strong coastal storm. This system caused widespread significant flooding and coastal erosion across the Yukon Delta, Seward Peninsula, and Kotzebue Sound coastlines. Additionally, widespread gusty winds were felt across the Yukon Delta, St. Lawrence Island, Bering Strait, and Interior Alaska Range passes.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1297482. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.