October 5th saw an unexpected deadly typhoon hit many villages in Alaska, causing more than 2,000 people to be displaced. One of the hardest-hit villages included Kipnuk, with over 90% of the homes being destroyed. As if the typhoon couldn’t be enough, a category 2 hurricane came right after. This destroyed any buildings left and displaced many more.
This leaves clean up crews rushing to find shelters and to airlift people to safety. But as there is not enough room in shelters, displaced people have had to resort to buildings such as hotels, warehouses, or any long-term housing centers. In addition to crews finding places to house those affected, rescue crews are still looking for lost residents. However, this becomes increasingly difficult as Trump has not provided a major disaster declaration yet, leaving just the federal crews doing search and rescue. This disaster declaration would bring extra funding, assistance programs, and public infrastructure. Along with asking Trump for this declaration, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance of Anchorage added in an interview with NBC News, “Our neighbors in western Alaska have experienced tremendous loss, devastation and grief. We will do everything we can here in Anchorage to welcome our neighbors and help them through these difficult times.”
The arrival of winter will make trying to repair these towns more difficult. With time, though, the towns will come back together, and they’ll be able to return to their new “old” homes. Only time will tell what the final number of displaced and lost citizens will be. As no new dangerous weather is foreseen in the near future, until those winter dates get closer, all that can continue to be done is repair what’s been damaged.
