Lifeguards in Western Alaska are working to find missing residents and help those displaced after violent hurricane-force wind gusts from what was once Typhoon Halong ravaged isolated coastal communities, unleashed a record storm surge and pushed homes completely off their foundations.
Three people are missing in Kwigillingok and at least 18 people were rescued in the village after the powerful storm, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a statement Sunday evening. Sixteen more people were rescued in Kipnuk and authorities are working to confirm reports of additional missing people, the department said.
The sparsely populated villages are more than 400 miles southwest of Anchorage. “Both communities experienced high winds and heavy flooding overnight, which caused significant damage, including at least eight homes pushed off their foundations,” Alaska State Troopers said.
Search efforts are expected to continue overnight, as conditions permit, with assistance from the Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard, according to the Department of Public Safety.
The storm generated wind gusts of 100 mph or more in western Alaska on Sunday, similar to the gusts that Category 1 or 2 hurricanes are capable of. Wind gusts reached 107 mph in Kusilvak while nearby Toksook Bay recorded a gust of 100 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
These winds also caused dangerous storm surges, pushing feet of water onto land, causing significant flooding in coastal areas. Water levels at Kipnuk climbed to 14.5 feet on Sunday, more than 2 feet above the major flood stage and 1.5 feet above the previous record flood level set in 2000.
The storm was formerly Typhoon Halong, a powerful tropical system that formed in the northern Philippine Sea earlier this month, circled Japan without making landfall, then crossed the North Pacific Ocean. It was no longer tropical by the time it entered the Bering Sea this weekend, but that didn’t eliminate its power.
The storm crossed northern Alaska Sunday evening and moved into the Arctic Sea early Monday, leaving communities to pick up the pieces in its wake.
“Every effort will be made to help those impacted by this storm. Help is on the way,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement Sunday announcing the expansion of the state’s disaster declaration to include areas affected by the weekend storm.
The initial statement, issued Thursday, addressed damage in western Alaska caused by another powerful coastal storm earlier in the week that caused significant flooding.
Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan said he has “had frequent conversations with Acting FEMA Director David Richardson and is 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 pre-positioned FEMA search and rescue group in Washington on standby. According to FEMA, the government shutdown does not impact the agency’s response to this emergency,” Sullivan said in a statement.
CNN has contacted the Alaska National Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska Rescue Coordination Center and the Alaska State Emergency Operations Center for more information.
