AP:
A Coast Guard icebreaker is cutting a path through icy seas for a Russian tanker carrying much-needed fuel for the iced-in Alaska city of Nome.
The 370-foot ship, hauling more than 1.3 million gallons of fuel, is scheduled to arrive later Monday or Tuesday. It was less than 190 miles away on Saturday.
Video and still photo images released by the Coast Guard show the two vessels moving steadily through ice jammed seas.
“They’re navigating through ice right now, taking a direct route for now,” said Jason Evans, the CEO of Sitnasuak Native Corp, one of the companies undertaking the delivery. “They considered going through patches where there might be thinner ice, but determined that that would have taken them on a longer route.”
The city of about 3,500 people on the western Alaska coastline normally gets fuel by barge. But it didn’t get its last pre-winter fuel delivery because of a massive storm and it could run out of crucial supplies before spring.
The Russian tanker came upon ice about a foot thick very early Friday near Nunivak Island, a large island in the eastern Bering Sea, the Coast Guard said.
The rest here.
AP also reports today that Cordova, a little town in Alaska, has had to call for help from the national guard because they've had so much snow (18 feet) that roofs are caving in and people are trapped in homes where snow is so high that it's blocking their doors.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWait...the Coast Guard only has one functioning icebreaker? I guess they believe in global warming, too.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUh, Greg...are you actually starting to believe in global warming or did you just forget to quote the rest of the article?
"If the mission is successful, it will be the first time petroleum products have been delivered by sea to a Western Alaska community in winter.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSitnasuak officials have said they settled on the Russian tanker delivery plan after determining it would be much less expensive and more practical than flying fuel into Nome. The vessel, which is certified to travel through ice 4 feet thick for long distances, normally delivers fuel to communities in the Russian Far East"