Dozens rescued, several still missing after monster storm brings violent wind gusts and record storm surge to western AK

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: CNN

Alaska

Rescuers in western Alaska are working to find missing residents and help those 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.

Three people are still unaccounted for in Kwigillingok as of Monday, according to Alaska State Troopers. At least 51 people and two dogs have been rescued since the weekend in Kipnuk and Kwigillingok following the powerful storm. Authorities said they were working to confirm reports of additional missing individuals in Kipnuk.

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.

Search efforts continued overnight with help from the Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard and the US Coast Guard, according to the state troopers.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/dozens-rescued-several-still-missing-152907233.html

[ancianita]

1. Alaska's abbreviation -- AK

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. You're correct

The title was too long for the space provided hence only Al showed.

[ancianita]

3. ...

Just wanted to point it out, is all.

[Skittles]

4. THIS is part of what the Guard is for

am hoping they find more survivors, Alaskans are very hardy folk

[maxsolomon]

5. The village is exposed to weather from the SW. Yikes.

Classic coastal arctic tundra. Can't be more than 5' above high tide, if that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Ex-typhoon Halong devastates villages in YK Delta

One woman has been found dead, and two persons are still missing in Kwigillingok after ex-typhoon Halong ravaged villages along the YK-Delta last weekend. Winds up to 107 mph were reported at Kusilvak, equivalent to a Category 2 Hurricane. Storm surges and flood waters knocked homes off their foundations, with people in them, floating off.

As of Tuesday, the state’s Emergency Operations Center reported that response to the disaster is ongoing. According to the state, more than 1,400 people were displaced and are sheltering in 12 shelters. “One of our immediate priorities is safely relocating individuals sheltering at schools in Kwigillingok and Kipnuk to more suitable locations,” a SEOC update reads.

In a Tuesday press release, the U.S. Coast Guard said it suspended maritime search and rescue operations at 5:49 p.m. Monday. There were still two persons unaccounted for in Kwigillingok. Efforts to locate those individuals will continue through ground-based efforts, the Coast Guard said. USCG crews from Air Station Kodiak successfully rescued 18 people in Kwigillingok, 16 people in Kipnuk and transported 28 people from temporary shelter in Kipnuk to Bethel as part of a multi-agency humanitarian evacuation operation.

https://www.nomenugget.com/news/ex-typhoon-halong-devastates-villages-yk-delta-spares-nome-norton-sound-and-bering-strait

Trump has, of course, devastated FEMA, so the chances of effective federal help for this are zilch. Help? That's for unpopular Argentinian presidents with crappy economic policies, not for American citizens hit by climate change (which is, by definition, a hoax, nothing to see here, don't complain or we'll send ICE, none of you look American anyway ...)

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

7. The landscape and lack of infrastructure is working against them ...

I lived in the Y-K Delta for a year back in the late 80's in Bethel. At the time the only paved roads in the region were a few miles in Bethel itself. In between towns and villages were nothing but tundra and (often frozen) waterways.

To move between them you used snowmobiles, dogsleds, or airplanes. Boats were only an option in the short summer.

Floods were also an annual event when the ice on the rivers broke. What I am seeing reported is different, worse.

The lack of roads or any quick way of traveling will make S&R efforts much harder than in the SE of the state. Planes are pretty much the only hope, and they need places to land. If the rivers are still flowing pontoon planes can do it, if not the flood may make regular landings impossible.

I wish them well.