- Typhoon's remnants could bring seas of up to 54 feet toward Alaska's coast : NPR
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Typhoon in alaskaA new storm could hit parts of Western Alaska pummeled by last month’s typhoon remnants - Alena Naiden
Typhoon Merbok spotlights Alaska’s need for science and climate-resilient infrastructure.
Subscribe Get notifications about news related to the topics you care about. You can unsubscribe anytime. Breaking news. Alaska government. Southeast Alaska. Some don't evacuate, despite repeated hurricane warnings, because they can't September 30, People with disabilities, people who can't afford it and people who don't want to abandon their pets are among the many who can't easily get up and leave before a hurricane. Without them, residents feel exposed.
September 29, The storm eroded about feet of coastline, bringing the water that much closer to town. Site notifications Update notification options. Subscribe to notifications.
Cancel Subscribe. Stone said there will be no classes taught at the Hooper Bay school on Monday to give its staff time to figure out what to do next. The principal is currently out on medical leave, leaving a new assistant principal in charge. Stone says she and other staffers are doing a good job of meeting the needs and making the health and safety of the entire village their top priority.
City of Nome staff said on Facebook Saturday that several streets had flooded due to storm surges, and they urged residents to avoid those areas and limit non-essential travel for their own safety. Nome Mayor John Handeland told the Anchorage Daily News that an unoccupied home which had been swept into the Snake River and collided into a bridge over the river — seen in a photo posted online by state transportation officials — was likely to fall apart without damaging the bridge.
He said that as the remnants of Typhoon Merbok dissipate, water levels in Nome were expected to fall. In Toksook Bay Friday night, lifelong resident Noah Lincoln took his four-wheeler out toward the cliffs to watch the waves roll in. Intense wind gusts whipped across the town. Lincoln spread his jacket wide and leaned forward, wondering if the wind was strong enough to lift him into the air. It was. But that may have been the most serious injury reported from Toksook Bay, according to Lincoln.
The city mayor also says there were no serious injuries reported. The houses in Toksook Bay are built on higher ground, and none of them were flooded. However, high water pushed some boats in the harbor up the hillside, and one home near the shore had to be evacuated.
The city mayor said wind caused minor damage to one of the businesses in town and some smaller structures, including sheds and porches. The town did not lose power. There were no mass evacuations, injuries, or severe property damage, according to the mayor. The main concern is erosion. In Toksook Bay, houses are built on cliffs overlooking the sea. Lincoln estimated those cliffs may have eroded by a foot or more last night. Lincoln said that it was the worst storm he has ever experienced.
Hurricane force winds in the fall are unheard of, he said. According to the National Weather Service, the storm is the strongest to hit Western Alaska in the month of September since at least , when records of storms like this began.
The berm was all that protected the small village from the sea. Resident Gloria Andrew also underscored the importance of the berm, made of gravel, sand and driftwood. She estimated the berm was destroyed between about 8 a. The winds are expected to shift and the seas to pound the coastline again. Shaktoolik is a village of roughly people and it sits on a gravel-sand spit between the Tagoomenik River and Norton Sound. Sookiayak called on the community to evacuate to the local school early Saturday morning.
People set up cots and air mattresses in the building, said Andrew. By late Saturday afternoon, Sookiayak said he had not heard of any storm-related injuries, and said everyone was accounted for. He said aside from the berm, he was also concerned about the storm-fueled erosion that occurred a few miles from town, tearing into the coastline.
The Alaska Red Cross is preparing to mobilize disaster assistance teams to communities hit hard by the Bering Sea storm. Taylar Sausen, regional director of communications for the Alaska Red Cross, said logistics are the primary focus right now. The Alaska Red Cross has been coordinating with city and tribal governments as well as Native corporations, who are in touch with their shareholders.
Sausen hopes disaster response teams can start heading to communities on Monday but said, depending on flood damage and the weather, it could take more time for help to arrive. In Scammon Bay, city administrator Larson Hunter said conditions are finally beginning to calm down. Although there was still significant flooding along their stretch of river, the village itself avoided the worst effects of the storm.
Most of the town is built up to a hillside, which prevented any homes from flooding. Beyond their good fortune, the town was also prepared for high water due to another extreme flooding event in November This year, Scammon Bay city administrators preemptively informed residents of the flood risk and advised them to stage their boats further from the water.
Although some boats still floated free from their anchor point, there were far fewer than in Nedza said her primary concern is for other communities in the far-flung district.
Those included Golovin due to its extensive flooding and Shaktoolik, where she said a protective berm has largely been washed away by the storm. Nedza said U. Lisa Murkowski had already reached out Saturday to superintendents in districts affected by the storm to offer that assistance. Hundreds of residents take shelter at school in Hooper Bay, where the coastal flood warning extends into Sunday. More than additional people have taken shelter at the Hooper Bay School, bringing the total number of people seeking refuge there to more than , nearly a fifth of the town.
Hooper Bay, pop. Vice Principal Brittany Taraba said the school handed out more than lunches today. The school has opened most of its classrooms for sleeping areas tonight. Taraba said morale has been relatively high, and the community has come together in the face of the storm, which has moved at least three houses off their foundations in Hooper Bay and flooded large parts of the village. She said residents have donated recently caught and processed moose to feed evacuees at the school.
When Taraba spoke to KYUK, kids sheltering at the school were watching a movie and playing games in the gym. Crowley Fuels, one of the major fuel providers in the region affected by the Bering Sea storm, said it has not had any known structural damage to its infrastructure or equipment, like fuel tank farms. Torey Vogel, a spokesperson for Crowley, said the company has initiated its emergency action plan to safeguard against adverse impacts to the affected communities and the environment.
Vogel said Crowley serves more than communities across the state. It provides fuel for homes, vehicles, planes, and equipment. He said there may be an oil spill. Stamm said AVEC crews are waiting for the storm to subside to assess the damage.
The entire town of Napakiak is under about 4 to 5 feet of water, according to City Council member Walter Nelson and local contractor Job Hale. The water is receding, but very slowly. Both Nelson and Hale said advanced warning and community outreach helped residents prepare for the storm. Over the past few days, the tribe and the city went house-to-house, passing out pamphlets on what to expect from the storm.
The roads are built higher than the rest of the village and are less prone to flooding. These roads are still mostly dry, and Hale said even rabbits and birds have started to take shelter on them. Most houses have also remained dry. But beyond that immediate good news, there are serious concerns about the erosion this level of flooding might cause.
According to Hale, high water eroded at least 3 feet of shoreline on Friday even before the worst of the flooding began. Napakiak has been moving buildings away from the eroding river bank for decades. In recent years, that erosion has accelerated, as a warming climate has melted the permafrost, raised water levels, and amplified storms. The village is undergoing a managed retreat from the river because of erosion.
The school sits only yards away from the Kuskokwim, and construction began this summer to demolish the back half of the building before it fell into the river. For now, Nelson said he was glad that people have been able to save their vehicles and stay safe. Several regional air carriers serving Western Alaska have suspended flights Saturday in response to the massive storm.
Juliana Peterson, a customer-service manager with Grant Aviation, said just 10 flights were completed by the airline on Friday. All morning and afternoon flights Saturday were canceled, with evening flights on a weather hold pending updates from the National Weather Service. Although NWS forecasts called for winds in Bethel to start subsiding by about 5 p.
Saturday, Bartlett said winds remained high at most destinations Fox serves. All flights have been cancelled. Stay safe! Interior Alaska communities like Holy Cross have been affected as well. There are a number of partial outages reported in a number of communities, but so far no reports of injuries or missing people. Stamm said storm surges are causing most of the problems.
There is concern about near empty tanks floating away. One tank is leaning over. AVEC staged crews in Bethel and Nome prior to the storm, but the severe weather will probably keep them from flying out until Sunday.
Reaching Hooper Bay is the top priority for now due to the damage at the tank farm. Stamm urged patience. Due to the widespread damage, he said it will take awhile for crews to get to the affected communities. He also asked people not to try to deal with downed lines themselves, because they could be dangerous.
He said if you come across a downed lined, contact AVEC. About 60 people shelter in school. In Newtok, Lucinta Ivon is one of the 60 or 70 people sheltering at the school. She said a portion of the town is flooded, and the number of families at the school has grown throughout the morning.
Families brought their own sleeping bags and food and are setting up in classrooms and the gym. Ivon said the river seems to be going down — at least for now. According to Ivon, the school is now about 40 feet from the water. According to Joseph John, who works at the town store, about nine or 10 houses have flooded. None have floated off their foundation so far. He said empty fuel tanks and boats floated to the other side of the river, and that a handful of boats sank.
The riverbank eroded between 10 and 20 feet overnight. In Newtok, erosion is a longstanding concern.
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