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- [00:00]
Eric Stone
Support for Alaska Public Media on demand.
- [00:03]
Casey Grove
Comes from Siri, an Alaska Native corporation with operations and investments spanning five continents, 45 states and two U.S. territories.
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James Paul
It happened so fast. Everything changed like in a day.
- [00:25]
Casey Grove
Residents begin repairs in the Alaska village hardest hit by the devastating storm. From Alaska Public Media, this is Statewide News Alaska News nightly for Tuesday, October 21st. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, a look at Anchorage's efforts to provide shelter and school for evacuees.
- [00:42]
Eric Stone
It's my role as superintendent to help these students get the supports that they deserve and need.
- [00:47]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. Dozens of communities in western Alaska are working to restore essential infrastructure and repair damaged homes after the remnants of Typhoon Ha Long devastated coastal communities. But one stands out. In Kipnuk, Ha Long's high winds and storm surge left a catastrophe. The state Department of Transportation estimates that 90% of the structures in the community were destroyed. Most of Kipnuk's residents evacuated on military helicopters in the days after the storm. As Alaska Public Media's Eric Stone reports from Kipnuk, the few who remain are working to rebuild as winter approaches.
- [01:34]
Eric Stone
It's Sunday in Kipnock, and like a lot of folks on Sundays, Tony Paul is headed to the hardware store.
- [01:39]
James Paul
We're making progress every day.
- [01:41]
Eric Stone
Seems like unlike a lot of folks, Tony needs a boat to get there. That wasn't always the case.
- [01:47]
James Paul
Floated away. It floated in the water. There's like couple stores down past that way. A bunch of houses.
- [01:58]
Eric Stone
A week earlier, on Sunday, October 12, Kipnook endured the worst storm anyone can remember. Ha Long's hurricane forced winds pushed seawater more than six and a half feet above the normal high tide line. Water poured into houses, lifted homes off their foundations and deposited some of them miles away. It toppled four wheelers and snow machines and it left freezers full of food for the winter. Without power now, Kipnuq is in ruins. Piles of debris are everywhere. Anna Kashatok remembers opening the door for the first time once the sun rose.
- [02:29]
Anna Kashatok
It was so heartbreaking. Devastating. Kipnuq's not Kipnuk anymore.
- [02:36]
Eric Stone
Kashatok is only back in town for a couple days retrieving some belongings and important documents from her parents house. It floated away with them inside. She evacuated to the hub community of Bethel with her boyfriend, parents and two kids. It seems like everyone here has a story like that. Only a handful of people remain in this village that just a week ago was home to 700.
- [02:57]
James Paul
It happened so fast. Everything changed like in a Day. One day that the rest of their lives are changed in one day.
- [03:06]
Eric Stone
James Paul is sitting in one of the few places of refuge that remain. The local school. It's in great shape. It's elevated on pilings. A generator provides power. But the kids are gone. Many evacuated to Anchorage. Others are with friends and family in Bethel, surrounding villages or other communities around the state. So for now, the Chief Paul Memorial School is a hub for the recovery effort. Packaged food lines the walls. Cafeteria workers are preparing hot meals. Chili is on the menu for dinner. James says the state Department of Transportation tells him some heavy equipment is on the way.
- [03:39]
James Paul
We're getting like mini excavators and skid steers and some more ATVs for the crew here so we can power up the school and water treatment plant. That's our main objective right now. That's our priority.
- [03:58]
Eric Stone
But time is running short. Winter is well on its way. There are bits of frost in ponds on the tundra. That and an oily sheen. And a big question looms ahead. Can evacuees return before winter or at all?
- [04:10]
James Paul
The way that their houses are right now, I don't think they want to come back. Especially people whose houses were pulled off their foundation.
- [04:24]
Eric Stone
There are a few dozen homes that survived the storm and are still livable. James says he wants to stay here if he can. He spent most of his life here.
- [04:32]
James Paul
Kipnuk means family. It means values, traditions. It's my culture. I grew up here and my dad taught me to hunt and live off the land here. So I don't know nothing else about. I do know some about city life, but I'd rather be here outside the school.
- [04:59]
Eric Stone
Benjamin Cooktoun is unequivocal.
- [05:02]
James Paul
We're going to stay here all winter. I'm not going to leave Kipnock. These boys ain't gonna leave Capnuk so we can survive. We got hope.
- [05:15]
Eric Stone
But when or whether large numbers can return is unclear. Governor Mike Dunleavy, in a request to the federal government, says some evacuees from villages across this vast low lying delta might not be able to return for 18 months. Standing with a group of young men working to restore basic services, Kuktun is staying positive. He says he'd like to see more residents return to help out with teamwork.
- [05:38]
James Paul
It can happen. We got hope. We still do have hope. Yeah, we got hope. Every day.
- [05:44]
Eric Stone
He and his crew are taking it one day at a time, one task at a time. One boat ride to the hardware store at the time. Reporting in Kipnuk, I'm Eric Stone the.
- [05:55]
Casey Grove
Damage from ex typhoon Ha Long is already a declared state disaster, but there's still no word on whether President Trump will sign a federal disaster declaration. Tens of millions of dollars hang on that decision for people displaced by the storm or whose homes were damaged. There's another big question. If the president signs a disaster declaration, will it say survivors are eligible for individual assistance? That would make as much as $84,000 available per household. Jeremy Zedeck, spokesman for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, says very few Alaska disasters have included the federal individual assistance component.
- [06:32]
Jeremy Zedeck
We think that we've got a good chance at it, but it comes down to the federal government to make that determination.
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Casey Grove
Federal declarations sometimes come within days of a disaster, as was the case when the remnants of Typhoon Murbach struck in 2022, or as occurred with three Alaska disasters last year. The federal declaration can come weeks or months later. In the meantime, the state has its own individual assistance program. It's asking every family who incurred property damage from the storm or has been displaced to register for state individual assistance. Claimants may be eligible for $21,000 in home repairs, NZEDX says. Another $21,000 for other items, which could.
- [07:11]
Jeremy Zedeck
Be money for transportation, medical, dental expenses, subsistence, equipment, repairing or cleaning and sanitation of property. Some of those items under our state's IA program.
- [07:28]
Casey Grove
There's other funding for temporary housing expenses. If the president signs a federal disaster declaration that includes individual assistance, the caps are double, Zedig says, $42,000 for home repairs and $42,000 for other items.
- [07:42]
Jeremy Zedeck
So it's a greater level of assistance. We make sure that there isn't a duplication of benefits. We can't pay for things twice, but there is more money available to people that have lost their homes or lost their possessions.
- [07:57]
Casey Grove
Zedick says applying for state individual assistance lets the state know what your needs are so it can direct services to you and your community. It also serves as a head start on the federal Application for Individual Assistance if that program is unlocked for those who can't or don't want to apply. Online@ready.alaska.gov Zedick says the state is making face to face help available in Bethel and Anchorage. Anchorage officials say they're continuing to assist hundreds of people evacuated from western Alaska after the catastrophic storm. Alaska Public Media's Wesley early has more on the city's ongoing response, from enrolling children in school to securing more private housing.
- [08:48]
Wesley Early
City officials say there are currently about 655 people who've been evacuated to Anchorage, with many sheltering at the Eagan and Alaska Airlines centers. It's a smaller figure than the 2,000 potential evacuees officials estimated last week, but Municipal Manager Becky Wint Pearson says more people could be coming to the city in the coming days and weeks.
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Becky Wint Pearson
We've scaled that back in our expectations and our planning somewhat to plan for a max of 1500. That said, what we've been told by the state is there may still be people who are coming who we haven't yet identified who may be assessing whether their current housing or sheltering situation is tenable to remain in for longer term.
- [09:24]
Wesley Early
Win Pearson says the city is working to transition evacuees out of the two mass shelters into more private housing. She says the city has been working to identify available hotel rooms, airbnbs and other spaces.
- [09:36]
Becky Wint Pearson
We scaled that back in our expectations and our planning somewhat to plan for a max of 1500. That said, what we've been told by the state is there may still be people who are coming who we haven't yet identified who may be assessing whether their current housing or sheltering situation is tenable to remain in for longer term.
- [09:53]
Wesley Early
Wynt Pearson says the cost of providing that shelter, as well as other emergency responses will be taken on by the state with potential federal support if the president approves a disaster declaration. Governor Mike Dunleavy and Alaska's congressional delegation requested a federal disaster declaration for the state last week, but so far President Trump has not issued one. State representative Nellie Jimmy, who represents many of the western Alaska communities impacted by the storms, says the declaration is necessary to assist a vital part of the state.
- [10:22]
Anna Kashatok
Alaska is made up of rural villages, and without rural there's no Alaska. That that is our way of life. That is where my ancestors have come from and that's what I would say.
- [10:37]
Wesley Early
Anchorage School District Superintendent Jarrett Bryant says the district has enrolled 130 evacuated students so far, with most going to College Gate Elementary, Wendler Middle and Bette Davis East Anchorage High Schools. Bryant says he had the chance to ride with students on a school bus on Monday and described them as strong.
- [10:53]
Eric Stone
Behind every enrollment number is a story, it's a face, and it's my role as superintendent to help these students get the supports that deserve and need.
- [11:01]
Wesley Early
The Alaska Community foundation is accepting financial donations to support evacuees, while the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Alaska Native Heritage center are currently accepting donations of traditional foods. Reporting in Anchorage, I'm Wesley Early.
- [11:19]
Casey Grove
Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, dancers and drummers from around the state gathered for AFN's Koyana festival.
- [11:25]
Anna Kashatok
Majority of our songs and dances are from time immemorial.
- [11:31]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us. Although voting for Fat Bear Week in Katmai national park closed last month, Juneau's black bears are really starting to pack on the pounds to keep from starving during hibernation, and they're going for whatever they can find. KTOO's Alex Solomon has more.
- [11:48]
Alex Solomon
It's about 9pm at the Triangle Club, a bar in downtown Juneau at the site of a hefty black bear in the alleyway across the street. The bartender and patrons dash outside, slam their fists on a metal trash can and yell at the bear to go away for its own sake.
- [12:04]
Eric Stone
Keep going, bear.
- [12:05]
Anna Kashatok
Hey, hey.
- [12:09]
Alex Solomon
The bear is sniffing at a row of garbage cans that are bear resistant but not bear proof. The bear glances back once at the row of people standing on the sidewalk and then saunters up the stairs. According to downtown residents, this scene has replayed most nights this month. That's because autumn is a time when bears in Alaska enter hyperphagia, a period of gluttony driven by insatiable hunger. Carl Koch is Juneau's wildlife management biologist at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He says that the season's change, marked by a decrease in daylight and drop in temperature, triggers bears to devour massive amounts of food now so they can survive the winter. But their usual diet is not as abundant.
- [12:52]
Jeremy Zedeck
Yeah, I mean, there may be still some salmon around, but they're rapidly running out of natural food.
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Alex Solomon
The grasses they eat tend to be more nutritious in the spring, and berry season has ended. So Koch says he's been getting calls about bears rummaging through the trash. He says that will probably slow down in November and December, when bears head uphill to hibernate. During hyperphagia, black bears heart rates can double, and they tend to venture farther to find a meal they spend almost all day every day eating. It amounts to around 20,000 calories per day, double what they typically eat during the summer. And they could put on around a third of their body weight. Koch says the availability of resources, including trash, might make them stay out longer.
- [13:38]
Jeremy Zedeck
They can delay hibernation if there's food out, he says.
- [13:42]
Alex Solomon
He received a report of people feeding a young bear downtown, which is illegal in Alaska and could dangerously train the local bears to associate humans with food. The department euthanized two bears last year that had become aggressive around trash bins on South Franklin Street. Koch recommends keeping food out of vehicles, bringing bird feeders indoors until winter and keeping trash in secured bins, and he says to follow the city ordinance to put garbage out for pickup no earlier than 4am on trash day in Juneau. I'm Alex Solomon.
- [14:27]
Casey Grove
If you ask Skagway residents what it's like to shop at their local grocery store, many relay the same thing partially spoiled produce, poorly stocked shelves and sticker shock. Some folks do what they can to avoid the experience entirely. That includes hiring gig workers in Juneau to buy their groceries, which then get delivered by small plane. And as Avery Elfelt reports for the Alaska Desk, the trend is not isolated to southeast Alaska's northernmost town.
- [14:59]
Avery Elfelt
There's a small sign in the very back corner of Skagway's only grocery store that says Local Grown. Above it sits a container with bundles of radishes, next to them a few boxes of greens. But that's all there is. Everything else in the store is shipped in from far away, and it shows. On a recent walk through the Fairway Market, resident Katie Auer picks up a bag of partially wilted and bruised mini peppers and trucks you're telling me that.
- [15:23]
Anna Kashatok
I'm going to pay $9.29 for a bag of peppers that I would have to throw away over half of them?
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Avery Elfelt
The market is owned by the Alaska Commercial Company. Auer is among those who contend that the store is expensive, the produce rots quickly and the shelves aren't well stocked, at least anecdotally. Locals say that's particularly true during summer and when compared to Hanes, Skagway's closest neighbor. At one point, Auer says, she became so fed up with the situation that she called up Alaska Commercial CEO directly. He sent someone to town to meet with her, who, she says, could not.
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Anna Kashatok
Answer any of my questions about why our produce is so much more expensive, why our food in general is so much more expensive than that of haines when it's 13 extra nautical miles to get here. Why it is so much more rotten why? Why?
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Avery Elfelt
Some locals seem to be doing whatever they can to avoid the store entirely. Auer, for her part, says she hasn't shopped there in more than a year. Instead, she shops in Haines, Juneau, even Canada. She also ships a lot of her food to town, including through Instacart. That's a service that allows people to hire somebody to buy their groceries locally and drop the food at their doorstep. But in rural Alaska, it looks a little different. Customers in Skagway can place their orders. Then a driver in Juneau heads to Costco or Fred Meyer shops and delivers the food to the airport. From there, it's loaded on a flight and flown in typically the very same day. Here's Auer again.
- [16:50]
Anna Kashatok
Just as an example, you can get two dozen free range organic eggs for $8 from Costco, and they are like 1050 including shipping, including paying Instacart tipping my driver and a dollar per pound shipped here from Juneau.
- [17:04]
Avery Elfelt
As it turns out, people across Southeast are increasingly making the same call. Annual Instacart deliveries to the Juneau airport have more than doubled since 2019, company data shows, and seaplanes, the regional air carrier, says those orders head to communities throughout the region. To be sure, reliance on shipped food is not unique in Alaska, where communities across the state struggle to access affordable, fresh food. But Skagway has some advantages other remote communities don't. For starters, it's connected to an international highway. And like much of Southeast, it's on the barge route, which is perhaps the most efficient way to transport food, says Mike Jones, a food systems economist at the University of Anchorage.
- [17:43]
Casey Grove
Certainly within the data I see is the Southeast compares to the rest of the state and off road Alaska, it's a significantly lower quantity of food that actually spoils in transit to a store.
- [17:57]
Avery Elfelt
The challenges in Skagway underscore that even communities with better infrastructure struggles abound. Lee McKinney, who manages the market, says Skagway in particular faces one main issue drastic population swings. In the wintertime, the town's population hovers around 900 people, but the population booms in the summer amid an influx of workers and more than 10,000 cruise ship passengers. On some days, McKinney says, it's a near impossible task ordering, storing and stocking enough food to last the entire week without going overboard.
- [18:28]
Eric Stone
I don't have enough space to maintain all the produce I could sell. But the other side of the coin is if I do, a larger portion of that produce is going to go bad and have to be thrown out before I do sell it. So It's a catch 22 you try to balance.
- [18:43]
Avery Elfelt
Meanwhile, during the off season, McKinney says, people complain that store shelves appear empty and that the overall product selection is limited. Both concerns are true, he says, and happen on purpose to reduce spoilage. It's less clear why food in Skagway would be worse quality than Hanes or even Juneau. But it could have something to do with product turnover. Consider a minimum shipment of lemons. It would likely take Skagway, the smallest town, longer to sell them, which could mean more go bad before they're sold. Locals recognize that it's no simple feat to get food to Alaska or to keep it fresh. But for some, including resident Brooke Jaskey Zuber, relying heavily on the local store just doesn't make sense anymore.
- [19:22]
Anna Kashatok
I would say. I find mostly other ways to get the bulk of what I need.
- [19:27]
Avery Elfelt
Jaskey Zuber has managed a local tribe's farm for the last several years. That's where the locally grown radishes and greens in the store came from. She says she sources most of her produce from the farm in the summertime, but otherwise she too orders much of what she needs from outside town. Reporting in Skagway, I'm Avery Elfelt.
- [19:47]
Casey Grove
That was the second in a four part series from the Alaska Desk called Shelf Life, which looks at food security in Alaska. Alaska Airlines is dropping its popular policy that allowed travelers flying within the state of Alaska to check three bags for free. The change will primarily impact non Alaska residents. According to Alaska Airlines, the three bag perk will live on through its exclusive Club 49 program. Members of Alaska Airlines rebranded loyalty program Atmos Rewards with valid Alaska mailing addresses can apply on the Club 49 website. Club 49 members will still receive two free checked bags for flights to and from Alaska. Under the new policy, non Alaska residents with Atmos Rewards, credit cards or Elite status may still be eligible for free checked baggage. Under the new policy, non Club 49 members or travelers without Elite status will pay at least $230 to check three bags for travel within Alaska, which was free under the former policy. The changes begin with flights booked on or after October 14th and departing on or after January 2nd. Koyana, Alaska, followed the first and second days of the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. KOTZ's Desiree Hagan was in the audience and met dancers and drummers from Utqiagwik to Juneau who performed songs from their communities.
- [21:17]
Desiree Hagan
The first night of Koyana, a Yupik word meaning thank you, began with an acknowledgement of displaced people from Kipnuk and Quingylngaq, two of the community's Typhoon Ha Long's remnants hit the hardest. Kelsey Jugan Wallace is one of the event's MCs. To our friends and our family, our elux who are tuning in tonight. When we first learned that they were going to be sheltered at the Alaska Airlines center, the first phone call I made was, hey, how do we get TV screens there so that they can watch?
- [21:51]
James Paul
We're just amped up and ready to go.
- [21:54]
Eric Stone
Get this thing going.
- [21:58]
Desiree Hagan
Fred Illawak led the first group to perform an Inupiaq group called the Barrow Dancers from utqiagvik with over 35 members on stage and more back home who were unable to attend. Julius Kilupczyk was one of the youngest members of the group. He's seven now, but says he's been performing since he was three years old. What do you like most about dancing? That's your favorite part.
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Anna Kashatok
Stomping your feet.
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Desiree Hagan
Three other North Slope groups travel to perform at Guiana from Point Hope, Wainwright and Anaktuvik Pass Marietta. Amarok is from the Ilongna Mute Dancers from Wainwright, a community of about 600 that borders the Arctic Ocean.
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Anna Kashatok
Been dancing since I was probably in.
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Desiree Hagan
My mom's womb, amalok says. The group formed about a year ago, right before the World Eskimo Indian Olympics, but most of the group's songs have been passed down for generations.
- [23:10]
Anna Kashatok
Majority of our songs and dances are from time immemorial, she says.
- [23:18]
Desiree Hagan
One of the group's more contemporary songs commemorates when Wainwright Dancers performed at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The Kotlik Dance Group is one of two Yupik dance groups from the community of about 600 people on the mouth of the Yukon River. One of the group's leaders, Stella Akarin, says last year the group was scheduled to perform but couldn't make it because of weather. Akira says many of their songs focus on daily activities like gathering berries or traveling by snow machine.
- [23:57]
Anna Kashatok
They have all their own meaning to them, she says.
- [24:01]
Desiree Hagan
There was a time period where there wasn't dancing and drumming in the community, but many of the songs are from other communities or passed down from elders.
- [24:10]
Anna Kashatok
These songs were composed by mainly men that I have passed on and like a few surviving elders that we have left.
- [24:18]
Desiree Hagan
Akiran says many of the songs were composed by the late Michael Hunt Sr. She says one of her favorite songs to perform was written by her father, Ignatius Akarin.
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Anna Kashatok
That's about going and picking berries and going by boat looking for a log so he can take a steam bath.
- [24:42]
Desiree Hagan
Nancy Barnes, who also goes by Mansando Doga Dagyat, is the lead drummer for Yishka U, a Juno based group that has been performing for over two decades. Barnes is a Lutech and Tsimshian. She says many of the group's members are of mixed Alaska Native heritage.
- [25:00]
Anna Kashatok
So we do a lot of different songs like we'll do Tlingit, Haida. We do a lot of Tsimshian songs. We do an Alley OOP song.
- [25:12]
Desiree Hagan
Barnes says the group performs songs from communities throughout southeast Alaska, from Ketchikan to cake, but always with a blessing from the communities or song composers. Amelia Abeda is a Yishka' u dancer. She's Tsimshean and Pueblo. Abeda says Kuyana is her first big performance. She's wearing a long red blanket shawl with embroidery that she says belonged to her late grandmother.
- [25:39]
Anna Kashatok
Brings me great peace knowing that I'm able to do a lot of stuff that she wasn't able to do.
- [25:44]
Desiree Hagan
Queana Alaska sold out. It's now in its 43rd year with reporting from Anchorage. I'm Desiree Hagan.
- [26:08]
Casey Grove
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News nightly. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone in Kipnuk, Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C. wesley early and Desiree Hagan in Anchorage, Alex Solomon in Juneau, Avery Elfelt in Skagway and Ben Townsend in Nome. Our audio engineers, Chris Hyde, Madeline Rose as our producer. Thanks to Wesley for filling in last night. I'm Casey Grove. Good night.