State: schools serving as shelters, temporary housing programs available; register at ready.alaska.gov

Officials said their first priority is rescue and immediate sheltering, and that many local schools are serving as community lifeboats for evacuees. "If that safe shelter is in the community, the schools tend to function ... as our lifeboats in the communities," Mark Roberts, the state's incident commander, said, and the Department of Education noted districts such as Kivalina and Kotzebue had opened facilities as emergency shelters.