A comprehensive assessment of storm damage across Western Alaska is ongoing, but so far AVCP and partner agencies have tallied 10 houses lost, dozens of people still out of their homes and a massive loss of subsistence equipment and camps.
Two weekends ago, the remnants of Typhoon Merbok slammed into Western Alaska’s coastline in a storm path described as a “
“We are receiving reports of massive shoreline erosion along the Bering Sea coast. We are also seeing continued sanitation issues including clean drinking water and sewage issues,” Korthuis said. “The people in our region live day in and day out without a lifeline,” Korthuis said. “All the local emergency response at the community level are volunteers. We need federal assistance to fund tribal search and rescue to teams which could respond to emergencies like this past storm and countless others at the community level.”
“The subsistence foods cannot be replaced,” he said. “Eight months’ collection of Eskimo food: fish, herring, seal oil, seal meat, moose, you name it, all the greens. Some of these people lost how many freezers because the lights were out?” The scramble to reestablish fortifications is happening with a lot of coordination among partner groups. The state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is working with regional nonprofit Kawerak to get materials into Shaktoolik to rebuild a berm made of earthen materials and driftwood. The Alaska National Guard is aiming to get 5,000 sand bags to residents in Koyuk to buffer the shore by its downtown.
Alaska Air and Army National Guardsmen from Joint Task Force-Alaska rebuild the door of a small garage in Golovin, Sept. 27, 2022. Much of the work on the ground has been carried out by the 160 members of the Alaska National Guard lending a hand to locals. The majority of the guardsmen have been stationed in Western Alaska since shortly after the storm hit.
Guardsmen took cues from local residents on where their assistance was most urgently needed — for example, repairing machines in the washeteria and cleaning up the post office so package delivery could quickly resume.
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