Dozens Rescued in Remote Alaskan Villages in Storm That Swept Away Homes

U.S.|Dozens Rescued in Remote Alaskan Villages in Storm That Swept Away Homes

Emergency crews rescued dozens of people in western Alaska on Sunday as flooding from the remnants of Typhoon Halong battered remote coastal communities and tore houses off their foundations, officials said.

The Coast Guard and the Alaska National Guard, along with state law enforcement officers, used C-130 planes and Blackhawk helicopters to assist the low-lying villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

“It is a very serious situation,” he said.

No fatalities were reported on Sunday evening, but three people were unaccounted for in Kwigillingok and there were reports of people missing in Kipnuk, officials said. Some residents in the villages were injured by flying debris, said Amy Hendricks, a program manager for the Association of Village Council Presidents, a tribal consortium in western Alaska.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement that “every effort will be made to help those hit by this storm.”

Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, on the coast of the Bering Sea, each has a population of fewer than 500 people. There are no roads in or out of the communities, which have limited infrastructure and resources, Mr. Zidek said. Many homes are built on wood pylons. Seven homes in Kipnuk and four homes in Kwigilingok were swept off their foundations, he said.

“They are some of the most remote communities in the United States,” Mr. Zidek said.

The city of Bethel, which is serving as the staging ground for the rescue missions, is about 100 miles northeast.

The region is home to around 30,000 people and includes 48 villages and 56 tribes, said Vivian Korthuis, the chief executive of the village council association.

The extreme weather stemming from Typhoon Halong occurred when above-average sea temperatures in Japan interacted with colder air from Siberia, said Joshua Ribail, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. The storm brought winds that reached 80 miles per hour in some areas, he said, and caused water levels to rise as high as seven feet above normal.

The conditions were forecast to dissipate into Monday, though a flood advisory remains in effect. Another storm system is expected to arrive by Tuesday night, raising the risk of more flooding in Kwigillingok and the adjacent village of Kongiganak.

As severe storms become more common, the villages throughout the region, but particularly the low-lying communities on the Bering Sea coast, need more public safety facilities and officers who can conduct search-and-rescue operations, Ms. Korthuis said.

“The remnants of the typhoons have been the exception,” she added, “but now they are becoming the norm.”