Juneau, Alaska (AP) — One of ‘most significant’ airlifts in Alaska history is underway to evacuate hundreds from villages on the state’s southwest coast that were inundated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong last weekend, officials said Wednesday.
The storm slammed into coastal villages, bringing a record storm surge that swept away homes — some with people still inside — and left 1,500 residents in makeshift shelters.
Authorities determined Wednesday that two villages required full-scale evacuation, incident commander Mark Roberts said in a statement.
One person died and two remain missing following the storm.
The crisis unfolding in southwest Alaska, where communities are accessible by boat or air, has drawn attention to Trump administration cuts to federal grants aimed at helping some small, mostly Indigenous villages prepare for the ravages of storms or mitigate their disaster risks.
A $20 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to Kipnuk, a village inundated by floodwaters, for example, was terminated by the Trump administration, a move challenged by environmental groups.
The communities of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok had asked the state to evacuate residents, said Jeremy Zidek, emergency management office spokesman.
About 300 evacuees were being brought to Anchorage, hundreds of miles from the battered communities, according to the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Zidek could not say Wednesday evening where exactly those evacuees were from. He said some people in those communities may choose to stay back or to stay with others.
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