The City of Cold Bay restored power Wednesday evening after a week without electricity. The U.S. Coast Guard flew in a replacement transformer on March 3, and local electric company G&K completed restoration.
The city’s main transformer failed on Feb. 25, knocking out power to the Aleutian community of about 45 people.
City Manager Lorie Pierce said the outage affected fuel access and the city’s water plant, leaving residents without running water. The outage also disrupted cell service, seismic monitoring of Westdahl Volcano and the airport’s navigation systems.
Cold Bay resident Paige Kremer said the community came together and helped each other out. She said the state Department of Transportation fire station in town served as a central hub for cooking meals and coordinating the response.
“Just all the little things that you take for granted on an everyday basis, we’ve had to scrounge up and figure out and have made it work,” Kremer said.
Pierce filed a declaration of emergency with the state on Feb. 27 as the outage stretched into its second day. She said community members, state and local organizations, and the U.S. Coast Guard worked around the clock to keep the city running during the crisis.
