Concerns Raised over Possible Flooding in Western Alaska April 23, 2021 A heavy winter snowpack along the Kuskokwim River could make flooding likely this year in western Alaska, a federal weather official said. “I’m especially concerned about the lower villages” along the Johnson River, a tributary of the Kuskokwim, National Weather Service Hydrologist Celine Van Breukelen said. Her comments came Monday as more than 50 federal, state and local officials and others took part in a teleconference discussing breakup, the term for spring snow and ice melt in Alaska, KYUK Public Media in Bethel reported. Van Breukelen worries about the tundra becoming saturated with snowmelt, and the water not having anywhere to drain.