Memories of 2022’s Typhoon Merbok are still fresh in the minds of Norton Sound residents. The violent September storm resulted in millions of dollars in damages, and livelihoods were upended.
So when forecasters announced that another typhoon was on a collision course with the region, preparations were already underway in the Norton Sound village of Shaktoolik to ensure the safety of its residents.
On Friday, Oct 10, Native Village of Unalakleet General Manager Tracy Cooper opened her email to find a message from the City of Shaktoolik.
“They figured they had potentially 38 people that would need to evacuate from Shaktoolik,” Cooper said.
By the time the email hit her inbox, some residents were already making the 35-mile journey to Unalakleet by boat. On Saturday, Oct. 11, planes operated by regional airline Bering Air and the Bering Strait School District were also flying in residents.
In total, 88 people made the short trip to Unalakleet – just over half of the 168 people in Shaktoolik at the time.
Unalakleet resident Donna Erickson planned to stay home to ride out the storm. But as winds picked up on Oct. 11, she and other Elders were moved to higher ground at Unalakleet’s Elders Assisted Living Facility.
“I was told I had to pack a bag and immediately get out because our home is right on the beach,” Erickson said.
When Erickson arrived at the facility, she said she saw staff gearing up for a long night keeping watch on the evacuees.
“I saw how tired they were, and I said, 'Let me take over the kitchen. I'll feed everybody,'” Erickson said.
Unalakleet resident Shyler Johnson helped shuttle people to the Elder facility about 2 miles from town. Johnson also dropped off moose ribs and muktuk.
Erickson said she went to work on the ingredients and dished out heaping piles of muktuk, a giant pan of cornbread, and bowls of moose stew. She said the Elders could tell the moose was harvested by a lake, where it had fed on sweet lily pads.
“These old men, hunters, they really know the animals. They're intimate with hunting and knowing all of the Elder wisdom,” Erickson said.
The facility overlooks Unalakleet from a hill northeast of town. The group sat around, sharing stories as they watched the storm roll into town.
“It was kind of eerie because the big, huge picture window faces the ocean, the river, and the village, and we could see the whole place get totally flooded, all of the flats, and the road was just a little tiny strip of land,” Erickson said.
Erickson said about 20 Elders ended up spending the evening together on Sunday, Oct. 12 riding out the storm.
“We ended up having a couple hours of singing and playing guitars, and it turned out to be a very beautiful time for everybody,” Erickson said.
Wind gusts peaked at 69 mph just before noon on Oct. 12, peeling up the roofs of several buildings, including Unalakleet’s United States Post Office. But Cooper said she was grateful Unalakleet was spared from the worst of the storm.
“This affected a lot of us, [we] worry about folks in the other villages, we’re so interconnected and very thankful that this wasn't as bad as predicted,” Cooper said. “Our hearts go out to the folks there on the Delta and their search and rescue efforts there.”
Cooper applauded Unalakleet Chief of Police Chara Blatchford and the department’s dispatchers for working through challenges with failing landlines. She also said Unalakleet Mayor Chris Masters Jr. and Jeff Erickson were instrumental in coordinating the evacuation efforts, and she lauded the Native Village of Unalakleet and Unalakleet Valley Electric Cooperative staffs.
Bering Air resumed flights on Monday, Oct. 13 and was working with the Native Village of Unalakleet to return the evacuees to Shaktoolik, where minor structural damage has been reported.