A sunrise over Shishmaref, Alaska, which is part of the Bering Strait Regional Educational Attendance Area, one of several regional education attendance areas that sustained damage from the Western Alaska storms in October 2025, and were added to the Alaska disaster declaration and approved for FEMA disaster assistance in Feb. 2026 (Photo by Julie Avey/U.S. Air Force)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved additional regions to be included in Alaska’s disaster declaration following the Western Alaska storm disaster last year, and more communities will be eligible for federal disaster assistance.
The agency announced that two school districts — the Kashunamiut Regional Educational Attendance Area and the Yupiit Regional Educational Attendance Area — as well as the City of Saint Mary’s will be eligible to apply for federal disaster assistance, according to an agency update. Residents can apply for federal individual assistance, including housing assistance, and those regions are also eligible for federal public assistance for repair or replacement of storm-damaged public facilities. The Bering Strait Regional Educational Attendance Area, Iditarod Regional Educational Attendance Area, Pribilof Regional Educational Attendance Area and Yukon-Koyukuk Regional Educational Attendance Areas were also approved for federal public assistance. Applications for state and federal assistance are now open until Feb. 20, and that deadline may be extended for those additional areas, said the Alaska Division Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesperson Jeremy Zidek. Zidek said the additional regions were added after a joint state and federal preliminary damage assessment was completed in early December. The state made the request for those regions, and FEMA approved the request this month. Residents are eligible for FEMA disaster assistance of up to $44,800 per household for replacement of personal property, and $44,800 for repairing homes. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Alaska Beacon
