In August 2024, flooding brought on by heavy rains, high winds and tidal forces caught Western Alaska coastal communities off guard and drew comparisons to the impacts of Typhoon Merbok a little more than two years earlier.
In Kipnuk, a lower Kuskokwim Delta community of roughly 600 people a short distance inland from the Bering Sea coast, the flooding was especially severe.
“This storm, compared to Typhoon Merbok, was more impactful, and it [did] a lot of damages,” said Rayna Paul, environmental director for the Native Village of Kipnuk.
“I thought it was way too early. We're starting to see these extreme storm events happening more often and way early,” Paul said.
Paul said that floodwaters inundated multiple homes in the lower part of the community, floated away boardwalks and toppled bins used to collect raw sewage.
Paul said that she scrambled to compile photos of damage to infrastructure from the August storms. With assistance from the nonprofit Alaska Institute for Justice, she got the ball rolling on applying to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for a disaster declaration.
Last Thursday, Kipnuk’s tribe became the second ever in Alaska to receive a federal disaster declaration, according to FEMA. The first went to Wrangell’s tribal government following the deadly landslide there in 2023.
In Wrangell, the state of Alaska also declared a disaster. But in Kipnuk, which does not have any city government, Paul said that the tribe ultimately decided it was in its best interest to deal directly with the federal side, bypassing the state.
Working with tribal governments is something that FEMA Region 10 spokesperson Natalie Shaver said that the agency wants to better facilitate going forward.
“We've worked really hard in Region 10 to make sure we are hearing and listening to tribes and being more understanding of how our programs may or may not work, and the ways we can do to better them and make them more accessible, understanding it’s government to government,” Shaver said.
In December 2024, FEMA made changes to the ways it interacts with tribes, including reducing the minimum amount of damage that has to happen for a tribe to be eligible for assistance from $250,000 to $100,000.
So far, the Native Village of Kipnuk has only been approved for public assistance, which reimburses the tribe for community-wide repair work on public infrastructure like roads and public buildings.
“FEMA will reimburse the village of Kipnuk for any publicly owned infrastructure or any work that was done to respond to the disaster,” Shaver said.
The federal government covers up to 98% of the costs of public infrastructure repair.
“FEMA staff will be setting up meetings with village staff in the next couple of weeks to start documenting damages to any kind of public infrastructure to see what will be reimbursed,” Shaver said.
Applications for individual assistance are still pending, which would provide additional relief for individuals and households.
Paul said her tribe was also recently selected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a $20 million grant for the stabilization of the banks of the Kugkaktlik River where Kipnuk is located. She said that her greatest concern is ensuring that Elders in the community who may not be able to evacuate when flooding comes are protected against an uncertain future.
“We're like the forefront of all these extreme storms even happening now,” Paul said. “I fear things are gonna just get worse than here on out for the extreme storms, you know?”
According to Shaver, a federal disaster declaration application is also pending for the Native Village of Kwigillingok, which is located roughly 30 miles east of Kipnuk and also reported significant damage during the August floods.
For more information about federal disaster assistance, visit disasterassistance.gov or check out the FEMA mobile app.
Language assistance is available for individuals who do not speak English well. For assistance, call or text 907-727-6221, or email FEMA-language-access-request@fema.dhs.gov.
Copyright 2025 KYUK