More than a thousand people in Western Alaska are sleeping in their local school after a massive storm Sunday made their homes unlivable.
But some of the schools aren’t livable either.
In Kwigillingok, some 400 people were sheltering at the school, without functioning toilets, the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management reported Monday.
Nearly 600 were staying at the school in Kipnuk, where the water plant wasn’t working and electricity was limited.
Mark Roberts, the state incident commander, said Tuesday they’ve begun evacuating the medically vulnerable to Bethel.
“We're moving as fast as we can,” he said. “We know that folks are miserable.”
The storm struck two communities very hard, Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, with record-breaking storm surge and damage to nearly every home. But many more communities along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and farther north suffered flooding. Complicating rescue efforts, some airports are closed to fixed-wing planes, some power plants and phone systems are down and none of the communities are on a road system. Also, another storm is expected to bring high winds this week.
About 60 people have been evacuated to a shelter established at the Bethel National Guard Armory, Roberts said. For everyone else still stuck in their village school, State Troopers and National Guard are flying in supplies like water, food and satellite communications equipment while the state figures out what to do.
“We need to have places for people to go safely, where they can be warm and fed and taken care of. We're moving quickly to have that established, but it's taking some time,” Roberts said. “So some folks are in some really uncomfortable places. We're doing everything we can to push in support to them, where they are.”
Bethel, he said, doesn’t have the capacity to shelter everyone who needs it, so the state is considering other places, including Anchorage and Fairbanks.
The longer-term outlook is more uncertain. Roberts says the state needs to evaluate each house in the flooded communities, in conjunction with the Association of Village Council Presidents, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. and tribes.
“If folks’ homes are viable and the water goes down, and we can get the power back on and get them proper sanitation and reestablish some of their subsistence foods, then they can stay in their homes,” he said.
Where possible, he said, crews from the National Guard and Alaska’s Organized Militia will do rapid repairs to get homes ready for winter. Other residents, he said, can register to receive state assistance and seek temporary housing outside the community.
