Pvt. Alan Borbridge speaks in the Yup’ik language with an evacuee from Nightmute who arrived in Bethel on October 18, 2025. Borbridge, originally from Newtok, another village in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, said it has been “breathtaking” to see how much residents of the region have lost after Typhoon Halong. He said he thinks it has been meaningful for some to encounter a Guard service member who can speak to them in Yup’k. “They have a better understanding in their own language,” he said. (Marc Lester / ADN)
BETHEL — As the stream of evacuees arriving in Bethel slowed Saturday, officials prepared to begin repair and cleanup efforts in villages affected by the catastrophic storm that devastated communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim area of Western Alaska days earlier.
Officials said they were prepared to begin cleaning up flood-damaged villages and repairing battered homes and infrastructure starting next week after winding down a massive airlift effort that resulted in hundreds of residents who were displaced from their homes being evacuated to Anchorage, Bethel or other villages in the area over the previous few days.
The storm slammed into Western Alaska coastal communities last weekend, displacing more than 1,000 residents who fled after tidal surge flooding and hurricane-force winds wrecked homes and infrastructure. One person died and two others remain missing, all from the village of Kwigillingok.
While Col. John James of the Alaska Defense Force said some communities, like Kipnuk, would require extensive repair work, others could be stabilized quickly enough to allow people to remain or return to them relatively soon.
“There are things we can do immediately,” he said. “If we can go into those communities and assist with anything to prepare them for winter, we’re gonna go through that.”
Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation staff and volunteers spent Saturday afternoon preparing about 300 flood clean-up kits to distribute to homes across the region affected by Typhoon Halong. YKHC planned to begin giving the kits out this week as officials transitioned from major evacuation efforts to a clean up and assessment phase. (Marc Lester / ADN)
In a pole shed in Bethel on Saturday afternoon, about 20 youth volunteers and Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. staff members prepared about 300 flood cleanup kits that would soon be distributed to flood-damaged homes in the region.
The supply kits, said YKHC Environmental Health Services Manager Alyssa Leary, would hopefully be given away in affected communities as soon as the beginning of the week as government agencies and disaster relief organizations moved to a new phase of recovery efforts.
The kits included trash bags, tarps, masks, gloves, disinfectants, soap, mops, brushes and fans, she said.
“They’re kind of basic stuff to get people started,” Leary said. “The most important thing, really, for these homes that got water in them is to get them dry, get them disinfected to try and prevent mold growth over this coming winter.”
At the same time, the Alaska National Guard has seen a declining number of evacuees arrive in Bethel.
Evacuated residents from Nightmute exit an Alaska Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter in Bethel on October 18, 2025. Evacuation operations were winding down on Sunday for villages affected by Typhoon Halong. (Marc Lester / ADN)
A major three-day airlift effort had resulted in 633 people displaced by the storm being moved to shelters as of Saturday afternoon, according to the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
No evacuees stayed at the Bethel Armory on Friday night, according to the emergency management division. In addition, YKHC has passed shelter operations to the American Red Cross as it shifts its focus.
Authorities, relief organizations and local groups would continue to help residents who have remained in their communities find shelter if they change their mind, James said.
But he said aircraft and assessment crews had already been assessing communities and prioritizing where to begin “general purpose labor and light debris removal.”
Daniel Olick holds his younger brother, Tim, 3, after they arrived in Bethel from Nightmute on an Alaska Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter in Bethel on October 18, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)
James said he hoped to have personnel in up to four affected communities beginning that work as soon as Sunday.
With the winter freeze-up looming, YKHC CEO and President Dan Winkelman said the organization would begin work, alongside other groups like the Association of Village Council Presidents, to stabilize homes and infrastructure to “keep people in clean and healthy homes.”
That work, Winkelman said, would include “mucking out” flood-damaged homes and working to get resources to residents who have stayed behind and to restore utility services to villages like Kwigillingok and Kipnuk, the two most severely damaged communities.
Already, the health corporation and AVCP have evaluated 250 homes in communities that were in the storm’s path, he said.
Additional personnel, including those who specialize in disaster recovery repair work, are expected to begin arriving in the area in the coming days to assist in the next phase of recovery efforts, Winkelman and James said.
‘Going to move quickly’
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who flew to Bethel on Friday morning and boarded a Black Hawk helicopter to tour Kwigillingok and Kipnuk, said agencies and relief organizations had moved from the “rescue” phase to the process of providing care for residents in shelters and beginning to make damaged villages and homes livable again.
“We’re going to move quickly,” he said, “to get these folks back up on their feet and running.”
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy greets Alaska National Guard members in Bethel before continuing on to see the damage caused by Typhoon Halong in Kwigillingok and Kipnuk. Alaska Army and Air National Guard personnel continued work to evacuate people from several Western Alaska villages, including Tuntutuliak and Kwigillingok, to Bethel on October 17, 2025, several days after Typhoon Halong caused widespread damage in the coastal region. (Marc Lester / ADN)
Among those evacuated from their villages Friday were 70 residents of Tuntutuliak, Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, who arrived in Bethel in three separate flights of Alaska National Guard helicopters.
Lucy Martin said she was among the last evacuees from Kwigillingok because she helped coordinate evacuation efforts.
“I had to make sure everyone got out,” she said.
Martin said she plans to stay in Bethel with family and would like to return home “hopefully before winter.”
Lucy Martin of Kwigillingok, right, is greeted in Bethel. Alaska Army and Air National Guard personnel continued work to evacuate people from several Western Alaska villages, including Tuntutuliak and Kwigillingok, to Bethel on October 17, 2025, several days after Typhoon Halong caused widespread damage in the coastal region. (Marc Lester / ADN)
That could be possible, Dunleavy said Friday.
Dunleavy said he believed that some people who fled their damaged villages for shelters could potentially return before harsh winter sets in.
Kwigillingok was in “much better shape” than he expected, though Kipnuk “is in rough shape,” Dunleavy said.
Martin said some in Kwigillingok have stayed behind to continue search and rescue efforts and begin repair work.
She’s not worried about them, Martin said.
“They are conditioned for it,” she said.
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