The storm destroyed 2 villages in Alaska and displaced more than 1,500 people from their homes.

More rain and wind were predicted on Wednesday along the Alaska coast, where two small villages were destroyed by the remnants of Typhoon Halong and authorities were struggling to find shelter for more than 1,500 people driven from their homes.

The weekend storm brought high winds and surges that inundated Lower Alaska Native communities along the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in the southwestern part of the state, about 500 miles (800 km) away. anchorageAt least one person was killed and two were missing. The Coast Guard evacuated two dozen people from their homes after the structures floated into the ocean.

Officials said hundreds of people were living in school shelters, one of which did not even have a toilet. The weather system followed a storm that struck parts of western Alaska a few days earlier.

More than 1,500 people were displaced across the region. Dozens of people were taken to established shelters National Guard Arsenal in the regional center city of betelA community of 6,000 people, and officials were considering flying them to long-term shelter or emergency housing in Fairbanks and Anchorage.

The most affected communities include Kipnuk, population 715, and Quigilingok, population 380. They are far from the state’s main road system and are accessible only by water or air at this time of the year.

“This is devastating in Kipnuk. Let’s not make another picture,” Mark Roberts, incident commander for the state Emergency Management Division, said at a news conference Tuesday. “We’re doing everything we can to continue to support that community, but it’s as bad as you can imagine.”

heartbreaking moment

Bray was among those waiting for evacuation in Bethel on Tuesday PaulKipnuk, who said in a text message that he saw about 20 houses floating in the moonlight Saturday night.

He wrote, “Some houses would blink their phone lights at us as if they were asking for help but we could not do anything.”

The next morning, he recorded video of a house that was submerged almost up to its roof as it floated past his house.

Paul and his neighbors had a long meeting in the local school gym on Monday night. They sang songs and tried to figure out what to do next, he said. Paul wasn’t sure where she would go.

“It is very sad to have to say goodbye to members of our community without wondering when we will be able to see each other again,” he said.

In Quigilingoc, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) away, a woman was found dead and authorities called off the search Monday night for two men whose homes were swept away.

The school was the only facility in the city with full capacity, but it had no working toilets and 400 people stayed there on Monday night. The staff were trying to fix the bathroom; A situation report from the state emergency operations center on Tuesday said portable toilets, or “honey buckets”, were being used.

The emergency management office said preliminary assessments showed that every house in the village was damaged by the storm and about three dozen houses were shifted off their foundations.

Power systems were flooded in Napaquiaq, and severe erosion was reported in Toksuk Bay. At night, officials said that fuel drums were seen floating in the community, and there was a smell of fuel in the air and a sheen on the water.

The National Guard was activated to help with the emergency response, and crews were trying to take advantage of any breaks in the weather to fly in food, water, generators, and communications equipment.

Officials say there is still a long way to go for improvement

Officials warned of a long road to recovery and the need for continued support for the communities most affected. Most of the reconstruction materials will have to be transported and there is very little time left before winter approaches.

“Indigenous communities in Alaska are resilient,” said Rick Thoman, an Alaska climate expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “But, you know, when you have an entire community where effectively every home has been damaged and many of them will no longer be livable with winter knocking on the door, there’s only so much any individual or any small community can do.”

Thoman said the storm was likely fueled by warm surface waters. pacific oceanWhich is becoming warmer due to human-caused climate change and making storms more intense.

The remnants of another storm, Typhoon Merbok, had caused widespread damage across western Alaska three years earlier.

,

Johnson and Attanasio reported from Seattle.