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- [00:07]
Eric Stone
This is people leaving their homes, not sure if they ever will come back with basically like the clothes on their back.
- [00:16]
Casey Grove
Hundreds of Alaskans evacuate two villages hardest hit by Sunday's storm. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Thursday, October 16th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, survivors of a massive Anchorage condo fire are trying to figure what comes next. The smoke smell still gets to me. I've stopped smelling phantom smoke around, which is nice. Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. A massive airlift is underway in western Alaska as Alaska National Guard planes and helicopters take people from villages devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Ha Long. Today, hundreds of people from Kipnuk and Quigilingok boarded military transport planes headed for Anchorage, leaving their homes belong and communities behind. Alaska Public Media's Eric Stone reports. Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you coming on board, please come aboard as.
- [01:14]
Eric Stone
Much as you can and fill in.
- [01:15]
Casey Grove
Where there's spots available.
- [01:17]
Narrator/Reporter
More than 200 people are crowding into the belly of a massive C17 military transport plane on the tarmac at the Bethel Airport. They're headed for shelters in Anchorage at the Alaska Airlines center, at the University of Alaska Anchorage and the Eagan center downtown. Luke Amick Jr. Is sitting on a green military cot in the National Guard hangar waiting for his turn to board.
- [01:35]
Walter Nelson
Kipnock is our hometown and we've been living there all our life. Everything is lost now. All are all the memories and how it looks and how it looks like all the houses are gone.
- [01:53]
Narrator/Reporter
Amec's house avoided major flooding. Water came within an inch before it started to recede. But he watched other homes float by as wind driven seawater rose higher than it ever has in recorded history. One crashed into his house. It all just seems surreal.
- [02:07]
Walter Nelson
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I still can't believe what's happening right now.
- [02:16]
Narrator/Reporter
Not everyone from Kipnock and another hard hit village, Quiggillingoc, is going to Anchorage. Some are staying with family and friends in Bethel or some surrounding villages. Still others are staying behind.
- [02:26]
Casey Grove
There are there are about 100, maybe.
- [02:28]
Eric Stone
50 to 100 people in Kipnuk and.
- [02:30]
Casey Grove
Probably about 200 to 300 in Quig that are staying in the village.
- [02:34]
Narrator/Reporter
Lt. Col. Brendan Holbrook with the Alaska Army National Guard is leading the airlift here in Bethel and he says it's not just people in Kipnock and Quigalinguk who need help.
- [02:42]
Casey Grove
We also send helicopters to multiple villages today to include Nightmute and Tintilliac to do an environmental assessment and while we're on the ground there, we'll let them know that we do have the ability to evacuate as necessary. From what I understand, there are people out in those villages that are looking to come in to go to Anchorage as well.
- [02:57]
Narrator/Reporter
From there, their future is unclear. Jeremy Zitik, a spokesperson for the state's emergency response, says officials are first moving people out of harm's way to large shelters. After that, Zitik says they'll look for accommodations with some more privacy, hotel rooms, temporary apartments, that kind of thing.
- [03:12]
Casey Grove
No one wants to stay in a big giant room with cots, and they're not. We understand that people can't do that for very long, and. And we want to really find other solutions for them as fast as possible.
- [03:31]
Narrator/Reporter
He says the state is not ordering people to leave. And for those sticking around, he says responders are working to restore essential services like power, water and communications. After that, he says, National Guard members can start mucking out and repairing damaged homes, hopefully before winter. He's encouraging everyone who suffered losses in the storm to register for the state's individual assistance program. He says that'll help emergency managers connect survivors with funding for housing repairs, medical expenses and more. And Zitic says it also helps state officials coordinate assistance from volunteer groups like Samaritan's Purse.
- [04:03]
Casey Grove
If they register for that individual assistance, then we know what those needs are, and if our programs don't cover it, we can reach out to all of these other partners that we have and maybe we can address those needs.
- [04:19]
Narrator/Reporter
But recovery will take time. Back at the hangar, Rhiannon Jimmy is standing in line with her boyfriend and two daughters. Her home in Kipnock floated off its foundation during the flooding.
- [04:28]
Jacob Berg
For the sake of my girls, I tried to stay calm. When we started floating, the water started coming in. I don't know where we were going.
- [04:38]
Narrator/Reporter
When the sun rose, she found her home had come to rest at the Kipnik airport. She's grateful to be alive. Like Luke Omic Jr, Rhiannon Jimmy can't quite wrap her mind around what's happened to her home.
- [04:49]
Jacob Berg
I still can't believe anything that's happening. It feels like a really bad dream.
- [04:56]
Narrator/Reporter
When or if the community rebuilds, she hopes it's on higher ground. Reporting in Bethel, I'm Eric Stone.
- [05:02]
Casey Grove
For some of the hundreds flying out of the villages in western Alaska. As we just heard, it's not a question of when, but if they will be able to return. That included residents of Quigillingoc who were boarding military helicopters today. With the few possessions they could carry. Northern Journal reporter Nat Herz, working with Bethel radio station Kyuk, flew into the Kuskokwim Delta village this morning. Hers says the devastation was visible miles.
- [05:27]
Eric Stone
Away, 11 or 12 miles from the village. We started seeing these kind of white spots on the tundra, and a guy I was traveling with kind of pointed out, he was like, that's just trash. That's debris that had floated all the way from the village. And as we got closer, we saw overturned boats, overturned snow machines, and saw the village just everything super waterlogged and wet and soggy here. And, you know, the village is just kind of. It's barely above the ocean, barely above the river that comes through town here. And yeah, pretty. Pretty waterlogged at this point, although it feels like the floodwaters have largely receded.
- [06:06]
Casey Grove
Are the folks that have evacuated, are they able to take much with them, or is it just kind of what they can carry?
- [06:12]
Eric Stone
You know, I think they are able to bring, like, at least sort of a couple bags. Yesterday, I think folks in Kipnock were being told they couldn't bring their. Their dogs along, which was, I think, really hard today. They were actually being told if they were able to keep their dog close or in a kennel or whatever, they could actually bring dogs. I mean, I think a lot of people lost the vast majority of their stuff anyway, but, you know, certainly, like, this is people leaving their homes, not sure if they ever will come back with basically, like, the clothes on their back and maybe a piece of luggage or two. But, you know, it's. It's devastating.
- [06:56]
Casey Grove
Wow. Yeah. And I mean, for the people that have stayed behind, what are you hearing from them and what did they say about why they're staying?
- [07:06]
Eric Stone
I mean, I don't know enough yet to totally understand. I mean, it's. It doesn't feel like between here and Kipnuk, people are really expecting that large numbers are going to be here through the winter right now, just because everything is so messed up and there's just not that much time before freeze up. I think there may be some folks to kind of keep the lights on and maybe do some like, real essential repairs and then just sort of as far as the kinds of stuff they've experienced, like, pretty. Just unimaginable, like homes being lifted up off their foundations and floated away with people inside them. And that's, you know, I think that's kind of the worst of it. Like, I was just talking to a guy who was evacuating his family from his house to the school. Which was sort of the shelter here in the village. And, you know, he described he was in a sort of convoy of four wheelers, and he was the last one and kind of had to cross this torrent of rushing water that felt like it was about to sort of sweep them away. I think, you know, the level of trauma that, you know, adults who feel a level of responsibility have experienced, but also the children who maybe, like, don't totally understand what's going on here. It's hard to fathom, like, one woman I was talking to about what she'd experienced, and we were having what felt like a pretty normal conversation about a hard subject. And then I asked her, you know, if she expected to come back or wanted to come back, and she just, you know, immediately started sobbing and. And, you know, said no and was just wailing like, no. You know, I think it just feels like some really scary, gnarly stuff happened here that people are going to be processing and. And living with for probably the rest of their lives. But, you know, I guess I just would say, like, also the level of resiliency to live here, like, you have to. You're. This is a subsistence, mixed sort of subsistence cash economy here. But, like, people are living on the land. They. They know how to survive here. And I think, like, the way that people are pulling together just to support each other through this, like, emotional trauma, like, I've been watching just, like, these really long hugs all day, and, you know, there's like, really kind of wonderful communal meals at the school. Like, folks are helping each other out to, like, get their subsistence foods out of their freezers before they thaw. You know, people are figuring it out as well as sort of also just sort of suffering and processing the trauma.
- [09:45]
Casey Grove
Yeah, that seems really hard. So, I mean, it also seems like there's a huge question about not only would they be able to rebuild by. By winter, which is right around the corner here, but maybe a big question about whether they can rebuild at all.
- [10:01]
Eric Stone
I think sort of from an official standpoint, I don't want to speculate on whether it's kind of the local tribal government or the kind of regional tribal organizations that are coordinating some of the response, or the state of Alaska or the federal government might be sort of choosing or contemplating. I think there's certainly a lot of people I've. A surprising number of people I've talked to today and yesterday who basically said, you know, we do not expect to go home or don't expect to go home for a long time or expect that Maybe one day we'll return to our village and our home there as like a summer place, but you know, we're moving inland.
- [10:41]
Casey Grove
That was Northern Journal reporter Nat Herz, who's working with Bethel radio station KYUK and joined us from Kogalingok. Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, AFN opens with a call for unity and healthy communities.
- [10:57]
Natasha Singh
They're built on access to basic health care, well funded public schools and the fundamental promise of safety that's ahead.
- [11:06]
Casey Grove
Stay with us. The city of Anchorage is preparing to welcome up to 2,000 people displaced by the catastrophic storm that hit western Alaska. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance says she expects many will stay through the winter.
- [11:19]
Natasha Singh
We'll do everything we can to help folks and to do our best to provide a safe and welcome environment where they can heal and have stability as they work to rebuild.
- [11:34]
Casey Grove
Nearly 300 evacuees arrived yesterday. Hundreds more arrived today, with additional groups expected in the coming days. LaFrance says some will likely stay with friends and family, but many will need housing. The city is standing up shelters at the Alaska Airlines center, the Eagan center and the Fairview and Spenard Recreation centers. Together, they can house up to about 1,200 people. The mayor's team is also working to find hotel rooms. Going forward, she says her team will look at options for more permanent housing.
- [12:03]
Natasha Singh
It's unknown how many people right now will be able to go back to those communities or when or how they will be rebuilt. We are working very closely with partners and looking at ways that we can help to quickly scale up different kinds of housing to meet this need.
- [12:21]
Casey Grove
Lafrance says the municipality is taking a supporting role as the state of Alaska and the Red Cross manage the emergency response. She says the Red Cross is working to feed evacuees and provide other basic amenities. Anchorage School District Superintendent Jarrett Bryant said in an email that schools are ready to enroll students and provide support, including emergency supplies, bus transportation, mental health services and translation assistance. While the Kuskokwim Delta coast took the brunt of the remnants of Typhoon Ha Long, communities miles up the Kuskokwim river saw destructive flooding from the storm as well. As kyuk's Sage Smiley reports more than two dozen homes in Nepakiak were removed from their foundations by floodwater, and dozens of residents are still sheltering at the local school.
- [13:15]
Sage Smiley
Before last weekend's storm, the lower Kuskokwim village of Nepakiak was already in the middle of a community retreat from the rapidly eroding banks of the river. Slowly, Mo houses and businesses away from the edge. In late August, students attended classes in their brand new school about a mile away from the river. Now around 50 people are sheltering there after the remnants of Typhoon Ha Long brought Kuskokum floodwater within a foot of the new building.
- [13:41]
Walter Nelson
You know, one family had to crawl out when their home was drifting. Everybody had to climb out to a boat through their windows. I can't imagine how all the families that went through this, how they felt.
- [13:56]
Sage Smiley
Walter Nelson is Napakiak's manageretreat coordinator.
- [13:59]
Walter Nelson
This is the worst case scenario that we've never thought of before and realizing, you know, another one that's coming or could be hitting us could wipe out the pocket. Who knows? They're really just in the same boat.
- [14:19]
Sage Smiley
As usual, he says. Basically every house in Napakiak and most businesses had water come into them. The city office and local clinic weren't inundated, but still sustained damage. Community members say that more than two dozen houses in Napakiak were displaced from their foundations when the storm hit. Around a quarter of the homes in the village and many homes in Napakiak are without water, electricity or sewer, posing a major health concern.
- [14:44]
Walter Nelson
Every what we call a doghouse or sewage tank that is connected to a house or business have either been displaced or moved or drifted, Nelson says.
- [14:56]
Sage Smiley
It's the same with fuel tanks, so homes also don't have working heat.
- [15:01]
Walter Nelson
I've never seen a storm coming this strong before. You know, I live in a house that's pretty high from the road, but it came into my heating system. But I'm not the only one.
- [15:15]
Sage Smiley
Nelson says there are a lot of needs in a pawkiak, but top of the list are drinkable water and cleaning supplies to clean up the mud and debris from flooding.
- [15:23]
Walter Nelson
I can't tell you how we're going to survive, but you know, we're going to be working closely with any entity that is willing to help us rebuild during the pocket.
- [15:37]
Sage Smiley
For now, he says that families are still staying in the school and haven't been evacuated upriver to Bethel. With reporting from Evan Erickson in Bethel, I'm Sage Smiley.
- [15:48]
Casey Grove
A fire tore through a south Anchorage condominium in late September, forcing residents to flee their homes in the middle of the night. As Alaska Public Media's Hannah Flor reports, some are now struggling to find housing in a tight market. Figure out how they'll pay for it and make sense of what happened. I'm just hoping the firefighters could get this under control in time.
- [16:09]
Jacob Berg
It was one in the morning. Jacob Berg was Watching his home burn and recording the whole thing.
- [16:14]
Casey Grove
This is massive. I think the whole thing's gonna go.
- [16:18]
Jacob Berg
He'd been sound asleep just minutes before he woke to knocking and then found a wall of smoke outside his door. Police officers were in the hallway of his third floor condominium.
- [16:29]
Casey Grove
You know, when I saw this video, when I watched it again, I'm like, man, if the police weren't there, I wouldn't have made it out. Like they weren't knocking on the door.
- [16:38]
Jacob Berg
Berg is one of nearly 50 Anchorage residents who lost their homes late last month after a fire swept through the 21 units at the Ravenwood condominiums. Now he and his neighbors are scrambling to figure out what comes next, asking, will the condo rebuild? How long will it take? And in the meantime, where will they stay? In a city with a tight, expensive housing market, it's a lot to deal with. And then there's the emotional toll. Berg says he's still feeling a little traumatized.
- [17:07]
Casey Grove
The smoke smell still gets to me. I've stopped smelling phantom smoke around, which is nice, because for a while that was happening.
- [17:15]
Jacob Berg
Still, he says he knows he's lucky. The police officers who knocked on his door weren't even there for the fire. They were on scene responding to something else. When they realized what was happening, they sprang into action, waking up residents and in some cases, carrying them out of the building. Not one person died in the fire. Brian Dean is the Anchorage fire marshal. He says it's likely the fire started on one of the building's balconies, perhaps by a discarded cigarette. Though it's all still under investigation, he says it's shocking that no one was killed or even injured in such a big fire, especially when almost all the residents were home sleeping. He chalks that up to the police officer's quick response.
- [17:56]
Eric Stone
People's escape routes could have been blocked. They could have been trapped inside their units with no way out other than third floor windows. Yeah, it was a tragedy averted, but there were losses.
- [18:09]
Jacob Berg
Six pets died in the blaze, two cats and four dogs, and the majority of the units were pretty much destroyed. Only a handful made it through, mostly unscathed. Those where someone had closed a door behind them as they rushed out into the night. Berg closed his front door as he left, which means his condo is still mostly intact. He'll have to replace a lot of his appliances, but the things with sentimental value are pretty much unharmed. He's also having an okay time finding a place to live. His homeowner's insurance is just enough to get a One bedroom apartment. That's not the case for everyone. Nearly two weeks after the fire, Sarah Whitmer is drinking coffee at the kitchen table of a house that isn't hers. I don't sleep much these days. She bought Unit 9 three months before the fire, her first home. She'd only just finished painting the bedroom a gray green and hanging artwork. Now she's not sure where she'll go. I cannot afford to pay a mortgage and for a place to live, yeah, I just can't. I don't know many people that can afford two mortgages, but yeah, I definitely can't. Even though she won't be able to move back into her condo for at least a year, she still has to pay the monthly mortgage and the monthly homeowner's fee. That's $1,500 a month to not live in her condo. She's getting what amounts to $1,000 a month from her insurance to cover some other housing. But she says you can't find much in Anchorage for that. She's coming to terms with the fact that she'll likely have to rent a room in somebody's house. After this situation, it would be nice to just have kind of like my own safe space.
- [19:53]
Eric Stone
Where I could just decompress after a day and not people, because I am very peopled out.
- [20:01]
Jacob Berg
After holding it together for eight hours at work, she says it's her support system that's getting her through. Her friends are bringing her clothes, letting her stay in their homes. Her co workers put together a fundraiser. Even the firefighters. When they heard her dog Duncan had lost all his toys in the fire, they brought him some new ones. His favorite, the donut. Because Dunkin Donuts, Whitmer explains, that's how his name is spelled. Sitting at the kitchen table, she tears up, watching as he flops on the rug. He's part of her support system, too. She says. Oh, my gosh. I. Oh, I don't know where I'd be if Duncan did not get out. She says she used to be strict with him. Before the fire, he wasn't allowed in her bed. Now, though, he sleeps with her every single night. In Anchorage. I'm Hannah Fluor.
- [20:52]
Casey Grove
The Alaska Federation of Natives convention kicked off in Anchorage today under the theme of standing strong, standing united. The theme of unity was prominent in the keynote speech delivered by Natasha Singh, the president and CEO of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. Singh highlighted the 1995 All Alaska Compact that established the system for tribal compacting for healthcare and education. She says it was the first multi party tribal compact in the country.
- [21:21]
Natasha Singh
To be clear, unity doesn't happen on its own. It takes real effort and a shared commitment. As a tribal caucus, we're often in disagreement. Extreme underfunding of our services could divide us, but we overcome.
- [21:40]
Casey Grove
Singh grew up in the Koyukon Athabaskan community of Stevens Village in interior Alaska and made building healthy communities a centerpiece of her keynote address. She says many communities are at a breaking point when it comes to providing essential services.
- [21:55]
Natasha Singh
Healthy communities don't happen by accident. They're built on access to basic health care, well funded public schools, and the fundamental promise of safety through trusted law enforcement.
- [22:09]
Casey Grove
In her remarks, Singh also touched on the debate over providing a full statutory permanent fund dividend. While Singh says PFDs help rural Alaska residents buy their groceries, fuel and other necessities, she also says paying out a full PFD would pull support from priorities like education and public safety.
- [22:27]
Natasha Singh
I will not lie to my people. There is not enough revenue to support healthy communities and and a full PFD and anyone who promises a full dividend and the budget that helps healthy communities is not being honest.
- [22:45]
Casey Grove
Singh ended her remarks calling on attendees to stand together politically like their elders did in order to demand policies and funding to support their communities. The AFN convention will wrap up on Saturday. Nome is a town of burgers, pizza and Asian cuisine, but it's about to get something new to chew on. K O M's Wally Rana drove out to meet the family behind Nome's newest restaurant.
- [23:17]
Wally Rana
About three miles up the Nome Tela Road sits a man camp, usually a place to house temporary workers, but this one is different. One of the units at the camp is home to a new authentic taco shop. It's called La Casita Taco Shop or the Little House in Spanish. It's a long awaited passion project of Nome resident Lucy Valdez.
- [23:35]
Casey Grove
I've been waiting for years for this and it's finally coming true. So it's exciting.
- [23:40]
Wally Rana
Valdez is originally from California and is catered all over Nome, sometimes for crowds of up to 500 people. It's a family affair. Her mother helps prep while Valdez handles most of the cooking.
- [23:51]
Casey Grove
And I just moved my brother too so it's a family owned business. My partner and then my son's girlfriend so we all it's going to be operated by family.
- [24:02]
Wally Rana
Valdez says her family will divide and conquer the responsibilities. She and her mother will run the kitchen while her brother, who moved to Nome from Arizona, will handle deliveries we'll.
- [24:11]
Casey Grove
Have our own vehicle, our own system for deliveries. We won't depend on anybody else. Since it's so far away from people, we want to give them the opportunity to be able to get their food through us.
- [24:28]
Wally Rana
Inside, the shop is transformed from a basic kitchen to a fully stocked restaurant. It's equipped with a grill and stocked with high quality ingredients. Valdez's mother, Lulu Vaca, says La Casita has been a long time coming.
- [24:40]
Casey Grove
She's been waiting for this moment, I mean this opportunity for a long time. So I'm so happy and proud of her.
- [24:46]
Wally Rana
So proud. The restaurant will feature tacos with various types of proteins like carne, asada, carnitas, chicken and the Mexican classic birria. Other options include breakfast and dinner burritos, quesadillas, all accompanied by homemade salsas like the prep.
- [25:01]
Casey Grove
We're going to be doing our salsa prep. We're going to do our chata, our burrito stuff. That big day is coming when I.
- [25:08]
Wally Rana
Open, and that big day is finally here. La casita opens Wednesday, October 8, from 7:00am to 7:00pm Initially, the restaurant will be takeout and delivery only, with the dine in option coming soon. Valdez hopes La Casita brings a little taste of her roots to the tundra of nomenclature and noam. I'm Wally Rana.
- [25:38]
Casey Grove
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're online@alaskapublic.org and wherever you get your podcasts. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone, Sage Smiley and Evan Erickson in Bethel, Nat Herz in Kylengock, Hannah Flor and Wesley early in Anchorage, and Wally Rana in Nome. Our audio engineer is Chris Hyde. Annie Feit produced tonight's show. And I'm Casey Grove. Good.