Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said the damage is of “such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state.” State lawmakers are raising concerns about options given to people who lost their homes.
Updated: 32 minutes agoAlaska National Guard members guide passengers onto a C-17 aircraft before it departs Bethel for Anchorage. The Alaska National Guard transported 205 people displaced by Typhoon Halong from Bethel to Anchorage in a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft on October 16, 2025.
It was the second of multiple flights to transport people who evacuated Kipnuk and other affected villages in the region. Thursday that President Donald Trump declare a major disaster for the state in response to storm damage in Western Alaska. “I determined this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments,” Dunleavy wrote. The request came three days after hundreds of Alaskans from several Native villages were forced to shelter in schools and dozens of homes washed away in a record-breaking storm surge, leaving one person dead and two missing. State and local officials are preparing four shelters in Anchorage to potentially accommodate more than 1,000 displaced people. Such a disaster declaration, if approved, is expected to unlock several forms of funding and assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.under the Trump administration to the agency charged with handling federal disaster response. One-third of the agency’s full-time workforce has left or been fired, the Associated Press reported.Friday urging Trump to approve Dunleavy’s request. “Immediate federal assistance is needed to support Alaskans recovering from the damage of this storm and to mitigate the impact of future severe weather events,” they wrote.The delegation asked that federal authorities cover 100% of the cost of emergency work during recovery, a departure from typical practice which requires some state participation. “While first responders, tribal and local governments, and state emergency management personnel have acted swiftly and effectively, the scale of this disaster surpasses the state’s ability and capacity to respond without federal support,” they added. Dunleavy arrived in Bethel on Friday morning on his way to Kipnuk and Kwigillingok to see and assess storm damage.Sullivan said Monday that he was in touch with FEMA Director David Richardson and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.Friday, Vice President JD Vance wrote that he and Trump “are closely tracking the storm devastation that resulted in over 1,000 citizens being airlifted out of Alaska villages.” Vance said the federal government is “working closely” with Sullivan and Dunleavy to get help to Alaskans. FEMA spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions from the Daily News about Dunleavy’s request. Dunleavy asked that the disaster declaration apply to the Northwest Arctic Borough, Lower Yukon and Lower Kuskokwim. According to his letter, a series of storms this month impacted more than 50 remote communities.Hundreds of Alaskans were evacuated beginning Wednesday from storm-ravaged Kipnuk and Kwigillingok to temporary mass shelters in Anchorage.to Dunleavy raising concerns about the options given to people who lost their homes in the storm. “We are especially concerned for the 1,400 community members presently in temporary shelters, many who may not have homes to go back to,” wrote Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak; House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham; Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; and Rep. Nellie Unangiq Jimmie, D-Toksook Bay. “While we appreciate your desire to get people back in their homes and in their villages, we need resources to make long-term plans for housing and sustaining these individuals,” the lawmakers wrote.is not a long-term solution — we should be moving these individuals into hotels as swiftly as possible, as is a regular occurrence in the Lower 48 for victims of natural disasters,” they added. “Keeping them in mass shelters only prolongs the trauma and makes it impossible to go back to a semi-normal routine.”According to Dunleavy’s disaster declaration request, since the beginning of his tenure as governor in 2018, there have been 57 state disasters, and 14 of those were approved for federal disaster assistance. The state has spent more than $300 million since November 2018 responding to disasters, Dunleavy wrote.
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