Rescuers in western Alaska are working to find missing residents and help the more than 1,000 people displaced after ferocious, hurricane-force wind gusts from what once was Typhoon Halong tore through remote, coastal communities, unleashed record-breaking storm surge and shoved homes completely off their foundations.
At least one person, an adult woman, was found dead in the village of Kwigillingok Monday, the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said in a statement. Officials are working to notify the woman’s family before releasing her name.
Two people were still unaccounted for in Kwigillingok as of Monday, officials said. At least 51 people and two dogs have been rescued in Kwigillingok and the nearby village of Kipnuk since the weekend, and about 1,400 others were displaced to shelters, a local tribal health agency and state officials said. Authorities said Monday evening there were no missing people in Kipnuk after previously saying they were working to confirm reports of additional missing individuals.
The sparsely populated villages are more than 400 miles southwest of Anchorage. “Both communities experienced strong winds and heavy flooding overnight, which caused significant damage, including at least eight homes being pushed from their foundations,” Alaska State Troopers said Sunday, although officials said Monday afternoon that they are not sure how many buildings or homes are impacted overall.
Search efforts from Sunday throughout Monday involved help from the Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard and the US Coast Guard, according to the state troopers and the state’s Department of Public Safety. The Alaska National Guard response includes about 60 to 80 soldiers on the ground as of Monday, and upwards of 200 soldiers near the end of the week, said Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe, who runs the state’s National Guard. It is the “largest [response] I’ve seen in quite some time,” he said.
Some search and rescue efforts involved helicopters rescuing people off the roofs of houses as they were surrounded by several feet of flooding, images that are reminiscent to rescues conducted during Hurricane Katrina, said US Coast Guard Capt. Christopher Culpepper.
“If you imagine the worst case scenario, that’s what we are dealing with,” he said.
An aerial view of flooding in Kipnuk, Alaska, on October 12.Petty Officer 1st Class Shannon Kearney/US Coast Guard/DVIDS
The storm generated wind gusts 100 mph or more in western Alaska Sunday, akin to the gusts Category 1 or 2 hurricanes are capable of. Wind gusts hit 107 mph in Kusilvak while nearby Toksook Bay recorded a gust of 100 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
These winds also drove dangerous storm surge, pushing feet of water onto land, which triggered major flooding in coastal areas. Water levels in Kipnuk soared to 14.5 feet Sunday — more than 2 feet above major flood stage and 1.5 feet above the previous record flood level set in 2000.
The storm was once Typhoon Halong, a powerful tropical system that formed in the northern Philippine Sea earlier this month, skirted by Japan without making landfall and then crossed the north Pacific Ocean. It was no longer tropical by the time it entered the Bering Sea this weekend, but that did not eliminate its power.
The storm moved through northern Alaska late Sunday and pushed into the Arctic Sea early Monday, leaving communities to pick up the pieces in its wake.
“Every effort will be made to help those hit by this storm. Help is on the way,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement Sunday announcing the expansion of a state disaster declaration to include the areas impacted by the weekend storm. He emphasized Monday there will be support for residents in the short term as well as for long-term needs.
Satellite imagery captures a powerful storm slamming into western Alaska this weekend.CSU-CIRA/RAMMB/NOAA
The initial declaration, issued on Thursday, addressed damage in western Alaska caused by another powerful coastal storm earlier in the week that brought extensive flooding.
Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska said he has “been in frequent conversations with Acting FEMA Director David Richardson, and also in contact with local, tribal and state officials, including the Governor, and with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.”
“FEMA is in direct contact with state and local officials and has an incident management team traveling to Alaska as we speak with a FEMA search-and-rescue group pre-positioned in Washington on standby. According to FEMA, the government shutdown is not impacting the agency’s response to this emergency,” Sullivan said in a statement.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Taylor Romine contributed to this report.
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