Alaska Towns Trapped by Snow

Heavy snowfall so far this winter has trapped one Alaska town in snow and one in ice—causing the National Guard to be called in to dig them out, while a Russian oil tanker attempts to deliver fuel. Fifty-seven National Guardsmen arrived Monday in Cordova, a fishing town with about 2,000 residents, to dig out the town from under the 10 feet of snow that has fallen in the past two weeks. Some roofs have collapsed or are partially caved in from the snow, and the town issued a disaster declaration on Friday. Meanwhile, about 700 miles northwest, the gold-rush town of Nome has been iced in and is facing dwindling oil supplies as a Russian oil tanker—moving only two miles per hour due to the shifting ice—attempts to deliver fuel. Two other northwestern towns, Noatak and Kobuk, are also just about out of oil.