The suite of Bering Sea storms that has pummeled Western Alaska over the past week with fierce winds and high water is wrapping up, but peaceful weather ahead could be short-lived.
On Aug. 22, a high surf advisory for the northern Kuskokwim Delta coast from Newtok south to Kipnuk was extended until the morning of Aug. 23.
According to David Dellinger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Anchorage, the region is still seeing what is considered the remnants of Typhoon Ampil.
“You guys are getting another shot of energy. It's kind of like the last gasp of the system before it exits the area,” Dellinger said.
Dellinger said that the dramatic early start to the fall storm season is only the beginning.
“We’re finally getting through the end of [Typhoon] Ampil, but there are still some pretty large systems that are going to be traveling across the Bering, especially the southern Bering Sea, over the weekend,” Dellinger said. “And that will also impact the coastal regions as well. So you're not out of the woods.”
According to Dellinger, the region could also end up seeing the remnants of another tropical storm.
“It's called Shanshan. That is still pretty far south of Japan, but it has a track that brings it fairly close to where [Typhoon] Ampil was early on in its forecast,” Dellinger said. “But a lot of the models are so divergent that I can't even give you what's going to happen once it gets into the Bering Sea. But it is going to head up your way, probably towards the end of next week.”
On Aug. 22, the Alaska Emergency Operations Center said that it was prepared to respond to any requests for assistance, but that no significant residential or infrastructure impacts had been reported.
During the second and most powerful of the storms that peaked on Aug. 18, the situation was markedly different. Residents along the Kuskokwim River and far up Alaska’s western coast reported inundated homes, displaced boardwalks, swamped boats, and further erosion of already retreating shorelines.
On Aug. 20, some of these residents called into KYUK to share their experiences in Yugtun.
Roland Andrew called in to say, “It seemed like we were in the ocean looking around our village during the flood.”
Andrew is the tribal administrator for the coastal village of Kongiganak, which sits on the western edge of Kuskokwim Bay. The community was permanently settled in the 1960s by former residents of the nearby village of Kwigillingok seeking higher ground. That ground is apparently no longer high enough.
“Before the flood there was a barge that was anchored below our village. Afterward, we all realized that the barge was no longer there. The flood had moved it way up on the tundra," Andrew said.
[YUGTUN: tuar tang tua-i imarpigmi ilumun uitallrulriakut tangaallemteggu avateput. Utumariyartuan-llu tua-i maaten ellangukut, barge artangqelallruuq kanani ketemteni kicaumauralriamek. Maaten anurvagaarraarcelluuku piukut keluqvani kana nunapiim-llu qaingani uitanganani kana-i. Keluqvanun tagtellrullinia kana barge-aq kanani kicaumalaalleq ketemteni.]
A little ways up the Kuskokwim River, another community that relocated decades ago due to flooding concerns, Tuntutuliak, also took on water.
Tuntutuliak resident Thomas Charlie called in to say that flooding began with the first storm on Aug. 16, and then it got progressively worse over the weekend.
“The housing area is on higher ground and flooding doesn't usually reach it. When the water was still high, I walked on the boardwalks and the water was about a foot high at the housing area up on the tundra,” Charlie said.
[YUGTUN: Ulerpallruuq pagnall' housing-aaq uitaviika, ulesqiyuitellruyaaqell
ava-i tang maaten mana nunangvailgan sidewalk-atgun taglua housing-aama
nunii carevpagluni 6 to - 1 foot etutaaluni nunam pagum qukaa.]
Far to the west in the Nelson Island community of Toksook Bay, tribal administrator Robert Pitka called in to report seeing unprecedented erosion. “It's like the land is being torn away and floated off to the rocks. I've never seen that before,” Pitka said.
[YUGTUN: Nuna Tua-i allgulriatun aterqelluku teggalqut qaingatnun pikiit tua-i tuaten tangeqsailamku ciungani.]
Accounts from across the region, including comparisons to water levels during Typhoon Merbok and to this year’s Kuskokwim River breakup flooding, show a historic start to the 2024 storm season. Now, residents will have to wait and see what the Bering Sea cooks up next.
Visit the Alaska-Pacific River Forecast Center website for the latest flood advisory updates, or call the 24-hour toll-free Alaska Weather Information Line at 855-937-4977.
KYUK’s Julia Jimmie contributed Yugtun translations to this reporting.
