Western Alaska Reels from Remnants of Typhoon Halong; 1 Killed, Dozens Saved
More than 1,500 people were displaced in the wake of a massive storm surge.
The 2025 hurricane season in the U.S. has been notably quiet so far, with no hurricanes making landfall through the end of September and only brief, minimal impacts from tropical storms earlier in the summer.
At this point, there have been 12 named storms, with the latest (Tropical Storm Lorenzo) posing no threat to land and expected to remain a tropical storm.
However, it’s a different story this year in Alaska. Record-breaking floods swept across the western part of the state over the weekend as the remnants of Typhoon Halong battered the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, leaving at least one person dead.
The powerful storm inundated villages, washed out vital roads, and severely damaged regional airports, disrupting travel and isolating several remote communities.
Fifty-one people and two dogs were rescued from the village and the village of Kipnuk. Officials said everyone has now been accounted for.
The powerful coastal storm moved into the Bering Sea on Sunday, packing hurricane-force wind gusts, big waves, and major coastal flooding for the Kuskokwim Delta and communities south of the Bering Strait.
However, storm surge and heavy rain have been ongoing since last week from another storm system, creating a dire situation.
The powerful flooding has displaced more than 1,400 people and prompted search and rescue operations by state and federal officials.
ALASKA EMERGENCY: New video shows the powerful flooding ongoing in western Alaska from the remnants of Typhoon Halong, which has caused widespread damage, displacing families as first responders continue to search for unaccounted people. https://t.co/MYCPgjGPwV pic.twitter.com/Wv66bUVB92
— FOX Weather (@foxweather) October 13, 2025
Typhoon Halong formed southeast of Japan around October 3, rapidly intensified, and was declared a Category 4 typhoon by the Japanese Meteorological Agency on October 7, reaching sustained winds of 130 to 156 mph during its peak.
As it moved northeast, Halong weakened and shifted toward Alaska. By the time it reached the Alaskan coastline, the storm had lost its tropical status but still generated dangerous wind speeds and significant water surges.
Despite the Democrat-caused federal government shutdown, federal response elements remain on standby to support state response and recovery operations. Efforts are being directed toward locating housing for 1500 Alaskans displaced by the heavy flooding.
Across the region, more than 1,500 people were displaced. Dozens had been flown to a shelter set up in the National Guard armory in the regional hub city of Bethel, a community of 6,000 people, and officials are considering flying evacuees to longer-term shelter or emergency housing in Fairbanks and Anchorage as they run out of room there.
Fuel storage depots intended to support communities in the region had apparently been damaged, threatening pollution that could harm the fish and game the Alaska Native residents rely on for subsistence. Some people in the area may have lost freezers full of food such as salmon and moose intended to get them through the winter.
The hardest-hit communities included Kipnuk, population 715, and Kwigillingok, population 380. They are off the state’s main road system and reachable this time of year only by water or by air.
“It’s catastrophic in Kipnuk. Let’s not paint any other picture,” Mark Roberts, incident commander with the state emergency management division, told a news conference Tuesday. “We are doing everything we can to continue to support that community, but it is as bad as you can think.”
Today in Alaska after remnants of Typhoon Halong batter region.
Several homes were swept away in floodwaters, state officials said.
📍 Bering Sea Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region pic.twitter.com/hJcDKRtOlY
— Jen B.Doll🌎❤️🗽🇺🇸 (@JenBDoll) October 13, 2025
Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced the expansion of a state disaster declaration, initially issued for an earlier storm, to include areas impacted by Halong.
The initial declaration, issued Thursday, addressed damage in western Alaska caused by another powerful coastal storm earlier in the week that brought extensive flooding.
Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska said he has “been in frequent conversations with Acting FEMA Director David Richardson, and also in contact with local, tribal and state officials, including the Governor, and with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.”
“FEMA is in direct contact with state and local officials and has an incident management team traveling to Alaska as we speak with a FEMA search-and-rescue group pre-positioned in Washington on standby. According to FEMA, the government shutdown is not impacting the agency’s response to this emergency,” Sullivan said in a statement.
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Comments
NOAA or NASA (as usual) had forecast above average hurricane activity in the Atlantic for this hurricane season. You know, climate change, which magically makes everything worse. Old Danish proverb: forecasting is difficult, especially about the future.
Yogi Berra was Danish??
Haven’t heard anything about this
People too white? Alaskan natives not radical enough?
President Trump need to get on TV and talk about how he is going to help these people.
This is important, not so much his talking of the ballroom
The areas hit are tidal plains and only a few feet about sea level. The Bering Sea is very unforgiving and add a typhoon and it is devastating. Alaska has so many small villages in the bush… living as best the subsistence lifestyle. It’s a can’t live with…can’t live without tug of war with the modern world. Also leads to major friction where the state is being pushed to underwrite the lifestyles even after the Native Claims Settlement Act.
after canvassing the neighborhoods fema choose not to help the ….
oh wait…that was the fjb dei directive
re-greta to sail a flotilla into the area to provide aid to first people only