A massive airlift is underway in Western Alaska as Alaska National Guard planes and helicopters take people from villages devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong.
On Wednesday and Thursday, hundreds of people from Kipnuk and Kwigillingok boarded military transport planes headed for Anchorage, leaving their homes, belongings and communities behind.
Now, they’re not sure when or if they’ll be able to return.
Sitting on a green military cot at an Alaska Army National Guard hangar in Bethel, Luke Amik Jr. mourned his village.
“Kipnuk is our hometown, and we've been living there all our life. Everything is lost now,” he said. “All the memories … all the houses are gone.”
Amik was waiting for his turn to board a massive C-17 military transport plane ferrying survivors to shelters in Anchorage.
Water came within an inch of Amik’s home before it started to recede, he said. He watched other homes float by as wind-driven waters rose higher than they ever had in recorded history. One crashed into his house.
For Amik, it all just seems surreal.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said. “I still can’t believe what’s happening right now.”
Not everyone from Kipnuk and another hard-hit village, Kwigillingok, is going to Anchorage. Some are staying with family and friends in Bethel or surrounding villages.
Still others are staying behind.
“There's about, maybe, 50 to 100 people in Kipnuk, and probably about 200 to 300 in (Kwigillingok) that are staying in the village,” said Lt. Col. Brendon Holbrook, commander of the Alaska Army National Guard.
It’s not just people in Kipnuk and Kwigillingok who need help, he said. The National Guard planned to send helicopters to Nightmute and Tuntutuliak for an environmental assessment on Thursday.
“While we're on the ground there, we'll let them know that we do have the ability to evacuate as necessary,” Holbrook said. “From what I understand, there are people out in those villages that are looking to come in to go to Anchorage as well.”
From there, their future is unclear.
Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson for the state’s emergency response, said officials were first moving people out of harm’s way to large shelters, like those at the Alaska Airlines Center and Egan Center in Anchorage.
After that, Zidek said they’ll look for accommodations with some more privacy — hotel rooms, temporary apartments, that kind of thing.
“No one wants to stay in a big, giant room with cots,” Zidek said in an interview at KYUK in Bethel. “We understand that people can't do that for very long, and we want to really find other solutions for them as fast as possible.”
The state is not ordering people to leave, he said. For those sticking around, responders are working to restore essential services like power, water and communications. After that, Zidek said National Guard members could start mucking out and repairing damaged homes, hopefully before winter.
Zidek encouraged everyone who suffered losses in the storm to register for the state’s individual assistance program. That’ll help emergency managers connect survivors with funding for housing, repairs, medical expenses and more, he said, and also help state officials coordinate assistance from volunteer groups like Samaritan’s Purse.
“If they register for that individual assistance, then we know what those needs are, and if our programs don't cover it, we can reach out to all of these other partners that we have, and maybe we can address those needs,” Zidek said.
But recovery will take time.
Standing in line with her boyfriend and two daughters waiting to board the military transport plane, Kipnuk evacuee Reanna Jimmy recounted the terrifying night.
Around 3 a.m. Sunday, she got a call from her father. His house was floating free from its foundation.
Jimmy rushed outside to grab her four-wheeler. But floodwaters had already swept it away.
“I remember seeing the water and feeling very, very helpless,” she said. “For the sake of my girls, I tried to stay calm when we started floating and the water started coming in. I didn’t know where we were going.”
When the sun rose, she found her home had come to rest at the Kipnuk airport.
Jimmy said she’s grateful to be alive. Everyone from Kipnuk is, she said.
Like Amik, she can’t quite wrap her mind around what’s happened to her home.
“It feels like a really bad dream,” she said.
Jimmy said she’s not sure if she and her family will ever be able to return.
“If we do, I hope Kipnuk is located somewhere else,” she said.
