Burt Paul and Benjamin Kugtsun, two of those who remained in Kipnuk, reflect on living through the October 2025 storm, their lifelong friendship, and the reasons they stayed behind in the first part in a series from Bethel-based photojournalist Katie Baldwin Basile.

Bethel Director of Public Safety Jeffrey Kirkham said two officers fired shots that ultimately killed 23-year-old Neil Japhet at a home on Schwalbe Street after Japhet allegedly brandished a shotgun.

The tribe originally applied for the declaration in January, several months after an October 2025 storm destroyed an estimated 90% of homes and led to the mass evacuation of nearly all of the community’s roughly 1,000 residents.

KYUK’s Evan Erickson spoke with Northern Journal reporter Nat Herz, who traveled to Hooper Bay as part of a broader look at what leaders describe as an unfolding crisis that threatens barge-dependent communities in Western Alaska.

Consumers across the country are contending with sharply higher fuel prices amid a supply crunch brought on by the closure of a key strait in the Middle East. But even residents of California, where $6-a-gallon gas prices are making headlines, would face sticker shock if they traveled to Hooper Bay, or any of the dozens of other villages and hub towns across Western Alaska.

The increase would have been limited to disaster relief during the first 90 days after the storms. It would have covered the bulk of costs related to debris removal and emergency protective measures, costs that the state says reached $20 million in the first weeks after ex-typhoon Halong.

Following reporting by KYUK, ProPublica, and NPR, lawmakers tripled the funding the state would allocate toward school construction and maintenance. The budget increase would still only cover about 13% of what school districts requested.

Last week, communities along the Yukon River experienced ice jam-related flooding. But as of the evening of May 26, significant ice jams close to the mouth of the river gave way and the water began to recede.

Those located in the Iditarod Regional Education Area and the Lower Yukon Regional Education Area can now apply for individual and public state disaster relief.

Rep. Nellie Jimmie and Sen. Lisa Murkowski call for government support for Kipnuk and Kwigillingok. The Alaska House passed a resolution to support their decision to relocate.