Tuesday, October 14, 2025

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Photo: An overturned home in Kotlik. The National Weather Service reported a maximum wind gust of 78 mph in Kotlik Sunday morning. (Adaline Pete)

One person has died, two are still missing, and 51 have been rescued following a record-breaking storm that slammed into the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in southwest Alaska over the weekend.

Alaska Public Media’s Eric Stone and Liz Ruskin report.

Officials say search and rescue efforts are ongoing.

Christopher Culpepper, Coast Guard commander for Western Alaska, compares the devastation to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“Several of these villages have been completely devastated, absolutely flooded, several feet deep. This took homes off of foundations. This took people into peril, where folks were swimming, floating, trying to find debris to hold on to in the cover of darkness.”

Floodwaters in Chefornak, Alaska, October 12, 2025. (Photo: Clara Mathew)

He spoke alongside numerous officials at a news conference Monday, the day after the remnants of Typhoon Halong barreled into remote, coastal communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, hitting the villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok especially hard.

The storm brought winds of over 100 miles per hour and record flood waters.

Helicopters, planes, drones, ships, and para-rescuers from the Coast Guard, National Guard, and other agencies worked through the night and are still searching for two missing people.

Officials said Monday that one woman, previously unaccounted for, was found dead in the village.

Fourteen-hundred survivors are in community shelters.

Alaska National Guard head Torrance Sax says he has activated every member of the state’s National Guard and Alaska State Defense Force living in Western Alaska. And more are set to join.

“This may end up being the largest off-the-road-system response for the National Guard in about 45 years.”

State officials say dozens of nonprofit organizations, businesses, and faith-based groups are also coordinating recovery efforts.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) and numerous state and federal officials held a news conference on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska to discuss the devastating impacts of the weekend storm. (Photo: Matt Faubion / Alaska Public Media)

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R-AK) has declared a disaster for the region, easing access to additional resources.

“We know you need help. We’re going to continue to get the help to you. We’re going to do everything we can to get everything up and running as quickly as possible, and we will continue to help — not just today (and) tomorrow, but weeks and months on and until we get things back to what used to be at least considered semi-normal.”

Gov. Dunleavy and members of Alaska’s congressional delegation say they plan to visit the region.

The Elders & Youth Conference at the Denaʼina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo: Matt Faubion)

The storm’s devastation is on the minds of many people who traveled in to Anchorage this week from across the state to gather for two conferences being held in the city – the First Alaskans Institute’s Elders and Youth Conference and the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Convention.

AFN is the state’s largest gathering, which gets underway Thursday.

As KNBA’s Rhonda McBride reports, AFN is a time to address the challenges that face Alaska Native people and stand together.

Next year, AFN will turn 60 years old. It was formed to fight for land claims, culminating in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), created Native corporations to manage land and wealth.

It was far from perfect, but each year AFN works to improve upon the outcomes.

“…A way of life that AFN’s Co-Chair Joe Nelson says has been threatened by federal cutbacks and new policies that affect Native lands.”

AFN delegates had hoped to talk directly with Trump administration cabinet members who, along with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, were scheduled to speak at the gathering, but the federal shutdown has prevented them from traveling to Alaska.