One of the most significant airlifts in Alaska's history took place Wednesday, expected to transport hundreds of people from coastal villages. destroyed by strong surf and strong winds from the remnants of Typhoon Halong over the weekend, officials said.
The storm brought record levels of water to two low-lying communities and washed away homes, some of which were occupied. Makeshift shelters were quickly set up and grew to about 1,500 people, an extraordinary number for a sparsely populated region where population centers are accessible by air or boat.
Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, told CBS News by phone that one person was rescued and two were missing after the house was washed out to sea.
“Some houses were washed out to sea, and unfortunately there was one house that was occupied and three people were washed away,” Zidek told CBS News. “One person has been found and two people are still missing. This is the most destructive impact. But we have communities all along the Alaska coast that have been impacted.”
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About 300 evacuees were flown to Anchorage, about 500 miles east of the affected coastal villages, on Wednesday, according to the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Zidek said some evacuees are being accepted into a temporary shelter set up at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
The remoteness and scale of destruction created problems with the delivery of resources. Damage estimates continue to come in as responders move from initial search and rescue efforts to attempts to stabilize or restore essential services.
“The storm hit Saturday night,” Zidek told CBS News. “I believe by Sunday morning the Alaska National Guard and Alaska State Troopers were launching planes to go into populated areas and do rescue operations, and they were literally plucking people off roofs, going into houses, helping people out of the water, picking them up in baskets and getting them to safety.”
Brian Fisher, director of Alaska's Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, told CBS News on Thursday that it was one of the largest disasters the state has ever faced.
In the communities of Kipnuk and Quigillingok near the Bering Sea, water levels were more than 6 feet above the highest high tide line.
According to emergency management officials, some houses cannot be reoccupied again, even with emergency repairs, and others are uninhabitable by winter. Forecasters say there's a chance of rain and snow in the region this weekend, with average temperatures soon to drop below freezing.
Mark Roberts, emergency manager at the state emergency management agency, said the priority is “keeping people safe, warm and cared for while we work with our partners to restore essential services.”
Meanwhile, toilets were back open at a school in Quigillingock, where about 350 people took shelter overnight Tuesday, according to a statement from the state's emergency management agency.
“Many homes have suffered extensive damage and community leaders are instructing residents not to return to their homes for safety reasons,” the statement said.
A shelter closer to home — at the Bethel Regional Center in southwest Alaska — has already reached capacity, officials said.
Zidek did not know how long the evacuation process would take and said authorities were looking for additional places to shelter. The goal, he said, is to move people out of congregate shelters and into hotel rooms or dorms.
“I would like to point out that these communities are extremely remote,” Zidek told CBS News. “There are no roads to any of them. The only reliable way to get in and out of them regularly is by air, and sometimes storms like the ones that hit these settlements make it impossible to reach them for long periods of time.”
Fisher said Thursday, “Every coastal storm we see is as strong as the hurricanes in the Southeast, but it is not possible to consider evacuations along the entire coast.”
He estimated that 1,500 to 2,000 miles of Alaska's coastline were damaged by the storm and said it would be impossible for the state to evacuate everyone along that stretch of coastline.
“It’s our Hurricane Katrina, but without the roads and winter is just around the corner,” Fisher said. “We'll be doing this and caring for Alaskans all winter before we can rebuild critical infrastructure and homes. It will be a very long-term situation before we can get people back into their homes.”
He said people were being evacuated 300 to 500 miles from their homes. Many of the affected communities are not connected by roads. Many local airstrips are damaged, so only small planes can fly in with supplies, he added.
The crisis unfolding in southwest Alaska has drawn attention to the Trump administration's cuts to grants aimed at helping small, mostly Indigenous villages prepare for hurricanes or mitigate the risks of natural disasters.
For example, a $20 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant for Kipnuk, which was inundated by floodwaters, was terminated by the Trump administration, a move disputed by environmental groups. The grant was intended to protect against erosion of the boardwalk that residents use to get around the community, as well as 1,400 feet of the river, according to a federal website that tracks government spending.
There was limited work on the project prior to the termination of the grant. According to the Public Rights Project, which represents Kipnuk, the village purchased a bulldozer for transportation and briefly hired an accountant.
The group said no project could prevent the recent flooding. But work to remove abandoned fuel tanks and other materials to prevent them from falling into the river might be feasible during the 2025 construction season.
“What's happening in Kipnuk shows the real cost of withdrawing support that was already promised to frontline communities,” said Jill Habig, CEO of the Public Rights Project. “These grants have been designed to help local governments prepare and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change. When this commitment is broken, it puts people's safety, their homes and their futures at risk.”
Fisher said that while some of the flooding was record breaking, the weather forecasts were accurate and they received routine weather forecasts and had the correct data regardless of the weather conditions. A reduction in the number of weather balloons has been reported or other projects.
Fischer also said the cuts to public radio and television had no impact on communication. He acknowledged that communications were difficult after the hurricane, but Alaska's two public radio stations, KYUK and KOTZ, were up and broadcasting.
