One person is dead and two are missing in western Alaska after the remnants of Typhoon Halong brought hurricane-force winds and floodwaters across the weekend that swept some homes away, authorities said.
Local authorities say there will be a long road to recovery and a need for continued support for the hardest-hit communities.
A US Coast Guard official, Captain Christopher Culpepper, told the Associated Press the situation in the villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok as "absolute devastation".
Alaska State Troopers said at least 51 people and two dogs were rescued in Kipnuk and Kwigillingok after the storm system struck the communities. Both areas saw significant storm surge, according to the National Weather Service.
A woman was found dead and two people remained unaccounted for in Kwigillingok, troopers said. The Service earlier said it was working to confirm secondhand reports of people who were unaccounted for in Kipnuk, but by late Monday, troopers had determined no one there was missing.
The not-for-profit organisation Coastal Villages Region Fund told the Associated Press most of the residents in both communities had taken shelter in local schools.
About 380 people live in Kwigillingok, a predominately Indigenous community on the western shore of Kuskokwim Bay and near the mouth of the Kuskokwim River.
A report prepared for the local Indigenous residents in 2022 by the Alaska Institute for Justice said the frequency and severity of flooding in the low-lying region had increased in recent years.
The report listed relocation of the community as an urgent need.
In addition to housing concerns, residents impacted by the system across the region reported power outages, a lack of running water, subsistence foods stocked in freezers ruined and damage to home-heating stoves. That damage could make the winter difficult in remote communities, where people store food from hunting and fishing to help make it through the season.
Jamie Jenkins, 42, who lives in another hard-hit community, Napakiak, told the Associated Press the storm was the worst she had ever seen.
She described howling winds and fast-rising waters Sunday morning. Her mother - whose nearby home shifted on its foundation - and a neighbour whose home flooded had come over to Ms Jenkins' place. They tried to wait out the storm, she said, but when the waters reached their top stairs, they got in a boat and went to the school.
The men in town gathered boats and went house to house to pick up anyone who was still in their homes, she said.
Adaline Pete, who lives in another community, Kotlik, said she had never experienced winds so strong before. An unoccupied house next door flipped over, but she said her family felt safe in their home.
During a news conference organised by Alaskan Governor Mike Dunleavy, Alaska's two senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, said they would continue to focus on climate resilience and infrastructure funds for the state.
Earlier this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency - under the jurisdiction of the Trump administration - said it would end a program aimed at mitigating disaster risks. The decision is being challenged in court.
Senator Murkowski said erosion mitigation projects take time to complete, underlining the urgency of acting now to get works underway.
"Our reality is, we are seeing these storms coming ... certainly on a more frequent basis, and the intensity that we're seeing seems to be accumulating as well, and so the time to act on it is now because it's going to take us some time to get these in place," she said.
with AP
