Alaska storm damage so bad many evacuees won’t go home for at least 18
months, governor says
[October 18, 2025]
By MARK THIESSEN and GENE JOHNSON
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Damage to remote Alaska villages hammered by
flooding last weekend is so extreme that many of the more than 2,000
people displaced won’t be able to return to their homes for at least 18
months, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a request to the White House for a
major disaster declaration.
In one of the hardest hit villages, Kipnuk, an initial assessment showed
that 121 homes — or 90% of the total — have been destroyed, Dunleavy
wrote. In Kwigillingok, where three dozen homes floated away, slightly
more than one-third of the residences are uninhabitable.
The remnants of Typhoon Halong struck the area with the ferocity of a
Category 2 hurricane, Dunleavy said, sending a surge of high surf into
the low-lying region. One person was killed, two remain missing, and
rescue crews plucked dozens of people from their homes as they floated
away.
Officials have been scrambling to airlift people from the inundated
Alaska Native villages. More than 2,000 people across the region have
taken shelter — in schools in their villages, in larger communities in
southwest Alaska or have been evacuated by military planes to Anchorage,
the state's largest city.
Anchorage leaders said Friday they expect as many as 1,600 evacuees to
arrive. So far about 575 have been airlifted to the city by the Alaska
National Guard, and have been staying at a sports arena or a convention
center. Additional flights were expected Friday and Saturday.
Officials are working on figuring out how to move people out of shelters
and into short-term accommodations, such as hotels, and then longer-term
housing.
“Due to the time, space, distance, geography, and weather in the
affected areas, it is likely that many survivors will be unable to
return to their communities this winter,” Dunleavy said. “Agencies are
prioritizing rapid repairs ... but it is likely that some damaged
communities will not be viable to support winter occupancy, in America’s
harshest climate in the U.S. Arctic.”
The federal government already has been assisting with search and
rescue, damage assessments, environmental response and evacuation
support. A major disaster declaration by President Donald Trump could
provide federal assistance programs for individuals and public
infrastructure, including money for emergency and permanent work.
The three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation on Friday sent a
letter to Trump, urging swift approval.
The storm surge pummeled a sparsely populated region off the state's
main road system where communities are reachable only by air or water
this time of year. The villages typically have just a few hundred
residents, who hunt and fish for much of their food, and relocating to
the state's major cities will bring a vastly different lifestyle.
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In this photo provided by the Alaska Army National Guard, displaced
people are evacuated from Kwigillingok, Alaska, on Thursday, Oct.
16, 2025, following Typhoon Halong that struck Alaska's west coast.
(Joseph Moon/Alaska National Guard via AP)
Alexie Stone, of Kipnuk, arrived in Anchorage in a military jet with
his brothers, children and mom, after his home was struck by the
flooding. They've been staying at the Alaska Airlines Center at the
University of Alaska, where the Red Cross provided evacuees with
cots, blankets and hygiene supplies.
At least for the foreseeable future, he thinks he might try to find
a job at a grocery store; he used to work in one in Bethel.
“It's going to be, try to look for a place and find a job,” Stone
said Friday. “We're starting a new life here in Anchorage.”
Anchorage officials and business leaders said Friday they were eager
to help the evacuees.
“Our neighbors in western Alaska have experienced tremendous loss,
devastation and grief," Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said at a meeting of
the Anchorage Assembly. “We will do everything we can here in
Anchorage to welcome our neighbors and help them through these
difficult times.”
State Rep. Nellie Unangiq Jimmie, of Toksook Bay, on an island
northwest of Kipnuk, described for the assembly how she rode out the
storm’s 100 mph (161 kmh) winds with her daughter and niece.
“We had no choice but to sit in our home and wait to see if our
house is going to come off the foundation or if debris is going to
bust open our windows,” she said.
It didn’t, but others weren’t as fortunate. She thanked Anchorage
for welcoming the evacuees.
“You are showing my people, my relatives, my constituents, even if
they are far from home, this is still Alaska land and they’re
amongst families,” Jimmie said.
___
Johnson reported from Seattle.
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