The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Alaska and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by an ice jam and flooding during the period of May 8-13, 2011.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Signs Alaska Disaster Declaration

Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the ice jam and flooding in the Alaska Native Villages of Crooked Creek and Red Devil in the Kuspuk Regional Educational Attendance Area (REAA).

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Signs Alaska Disaster Declaration

The cause of this cold lurch was seemingly settled some time ago when Wallace Broecker, a Columbia University geochemist, suggested that a North American ice sheet collapsed, flooding the Atlantic with fresh water, which interrupted the normal circulation of the Gulf Stream.

WSJ: Matt Ridley on New Support for a Global-Cooling Theory | Mind & Matter

Firefighters said the flooding was caused by a mixture of heavy rain and rising temperatures thawing snow and ice, and have warned people to listen to forecasts.

BBC: Wales weather: Floods possible as heavy rain forecast

In the upper Midwest, thousands of homes and businesses also lost power because of heavy wet snow, ice and wind in the past couple of days, while rain and snow raised flooding concerns in various areas of the Midwest.

NPR: Severe Storms Sock Midwest, Push East; 2 Dead