Ten days after ex-typhoon Halong, the lake-filled tundra surrounding Tuntutuliak was dusted with the first snow of the year. The community’s raised boardwalks – not including those that floated away in the storm – were buzzing with activity as people did what they could to prepare for winter.
At a shallow lake in the center of town, Alaska National Guard members worked with residents to clear a massive pile of debris: oil barrels, building materials, tires, stacks of logs, rusted out appliances, a 30-foot section of boardwalk with a snowmachine marooned at one end.
All of it has been pushed into one corner of the lake, opposite the winds that tore through Tuntutuliak on Oct. 12 and raised water levels higher than anyone in the community can ever remember.
The smaller boardwalks that branch off of the main drag all have a story to tell. Down one, the home of a disabled man who swam to safety and was pulled from the water by his own crutches. Down another, three metal stairs still stand a hundred feet from their home.
"This white house right here, it was over there next to that green house," said Jesse Wassilie, a village public safety officer (VPSO) for the community.
Wassilie walked through the hardest hit part of town, a low-lying area along the banks of the Qinaq River known as downtown.
Ten days earlier, Wassilie and village police officer Sally Andrew risked their lives to help dozens reach safety at the Lewis Angapak Memorial School as homes quickly filled with feet of water.
"Sally called me, and that's when we started evacuating. The tide was coming in quick," Wassilie said.
"The ones with medical problems and Elders, we got to them first," Andrew chimed in.
Many residents were cut off from four-wheeler access as waters rose. Wassilie said that he attempted to wade through chest deep water to reach a home across from the school with 10 people inside. He struggled against the current and fell in the water where there was suddenly no boardwalk underfoot. Then he said that he got a call that a boat was assisting in the rescue. An aluminum skiff scooped him up, and Wassillie helped the stranded group to safety. He said that it wasn’t a moment too soon, as floodwaters reached the home.
"About 15, 20 minutes later, I started seeing water coming in," Wassilie said.
At the school, Principal Tamika Galvin said that it was hard to watch the rescue unfold.
"Every time he went out I just went into prayer mode because it was so scary. It was pitch black outside," Galvin said.
Galvin said that winds pounded the front entrance of the school, sealing the main doors from the outside when she attempted to force them open.
"Felt like 20 800-pound men were pushing back at me," Galvin said.
Galvin channeled evacuees to the back door of the school.
Galvin said that she helped roughly 70 people who arrived soaking wet and scared. There wasn’t much food immediately available in the school cafeteria on Oct. 12, but there was plenty of waffle mix.
"I make waffles all the time, like, for our parents engagement activities," Galvin said. "So I just made a lot of waffles."
As of Oct. 22, the school was still the relief center for the community, with piles of clothes and stacks of aid boxes ready to be picked up. Classes were back in session and there were some new students: nine evacuees from Kwigillingok who came with family members to spend the winter.
Being resilient
In Tuntutuliak, numerous houses are unlivable and 26 people have evacuated. Somehow, no injuries have been reported. Andrew couldn’t help but laugh when she shared the story of a man who woke up floating in his bed.
"The next day, when we were going house to house to see if everybody's accounted for, I looked at him. 'Didn't you hear me last night, calling your name, knocking on your wall and door?'" Andrew said. "He just smiled. ‘I was sleeping.’ I said, ‘Man, you're a deep sleeper.’"
Elder Henry Lupie put his younger brother Adolph and his family up for the winter after their house was pushed around 10 feet by floodwaters. He said that levity is important.
"I picked this word up from somebody, being resilient. And I think even if it’s [a] very sad thing, we’re being positive and still joking with each other," Lupie said.
His brother Adolph is more comfortable speaking in his native Yugtun.
"Maani-llu uitangerma amaqlima eniini cupegtengtuunga atraryuglua. Quyavikluku amaqliqa," Adolph said.
"Even though I'm staying at my older brother's house, I get homesick wanting to go down there. I'm thankful for my older brother," Adolph said.
Adolph has lived in the house down by the river for more than 50 years. He said he can't imagine leaving Tuntutuliak.
"Maaken-llu ayallrunritua ciunerkaqa tangrruaramku. Nankuaciqngama aneryaarciigalkuma. Anxiety-tuunga yugyagaaqan. Tamana tangrruarutekluku," Adolph said.
“I didn’t evacuate picturing where I’d be. I would panic if I couldn’t breathe. I have anxiety when I’m in a crowd. I imagined that,” Adolph said.
Everyone pitches in
Progress for the community has come in doses. Some freezers full of subsistence foods that were submerged have since hummed back to life. Adolph’s daughter completely disassembled the family’s Toyotomi oil heater, cleaned it piece by piece, and got it going. Now the severely warped home can at least be dried out.
Everyone is pitching in. Wassilie’s younger brother, Anakin, a high school sophomore, is part of a group of students that had already cleaned the mud from eight homes. For now, they’re calling themselves the Blue Jays after their school mascot.
"The ones who are in need, we’re helping them out," Anakin said.
The younger Wassilie said that he might also want to be a village public safety officer like his brother after he graduates.
Meanwhile, at his younger brother’s house, Adolph, his wife, and their two daughters don’t know if their home will ever be livable. Many in Tuntutuliak are in the same boat.
"I’ll be ready for the winter and feed somebody who's starving," Lupie said.
Speaking over a bowl of salmon strips set out on the kitchen table, Adolph said that he’s mostly thinking of others.
Julia Jimmie contributed Yugtun text and translations for this story.
Photos of flooding in Tuntutuliak on Oct. 12, 2025
