Science and Environment

At a joint meeting Tuesday night, the Chevak Native Village and the City of Chevak declared a state of emergency after the remnants of Typhoon Merbok destroyed most of the community’s storage sheds that hold gear and supplies for fishing and hunting.

Although the vast majority of the people who evacuated over the Sept. 17 weekend have returned home, some no longer have any home to return to. Village leaders are trying to fix that.

Hundreds of people in Western Alaska have been unable to drink water straight from the tap this week following the storm surge from the remnants of Typhoon Merbok.

Many people in the coastal Cup’ik community report losing fishing nets, dry houses, fish racks, and other essential subsistence equipment.

Parts of Hooper Bay were without power for about 36 hours over the weekend. But the situation could have been far worse– and threatened the town’s winter subsistence stock– if not for the work of two local power plant operators.

American Red Cross volunteers and Alaska National Guard troops are making the Bethel National Guard armory their base before flying out to harder-hit, coastal communities.

Golovin residents are in clean-up mode as their community works to restore power, phone service and clear debris. As the floodwaters recede from the weekend’s historic fall storm, some locals are left with feet of sand in their homes.

The storm that slammed into western Alaska over the weekend was the result of several factors all converging to make it so destructive.

At a press conference in Bethel Monday night, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he will request a federal disaster declaration for last weekend's Western Alaska storm.

As water levels receded Sunday, residents in the Bering Strait region began taking stock of the damage done by the strongest fall storm to hit Western Alaska in 50 years.