Drones and explosives: How Alaska is using technology to manage extreme weather events

Alaska’s landscape and topography — with its towering mountain ranges, vast boreal forests, immense tundra, millions of lakes, glaciers, volcanic activity and the continent’s longest coastline — present a unique challenge when it comes to emergency management during extreme weather events.

From locating avalanche victims to assessing unstable snow and supporting disaster recovery across vast, remote areas, drones and remote control systems are becoming a critical tool for keeping residents and first responders safe.

Shannon McCarthy, communications director at the state’s transportation department, said that drones proved particularly useful during Typhoon Halong, which devastated the Alaska’s remote Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta last October with 107 mph winds and record storm surges, destroyed more than 200 homes and damaged hundreds more.

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