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Alaska airlifting hundreds from storm-devastated coastal villages
National
AP Wire

Alaska airlifting hundreds from storm-devastated coastal villages

  • By BECKY BOHRER and JESSE BEDAYN - Associated Press
  • Updated

Officials say one of the “most significant” airlifts in Alaska history is underway to evacuate hundreds of people from storm-devastated coastal towns. Officials announced the airlifts Wednesday. Some villages on the state’s southwest coast were inundated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong last weekend. The storm slammed into coastal communities, bringing record-high water levels in some areas. Many homes were swept away, some with people still inside. The storm at one point left about 1,500 residents in makeshift shelters. One person died and two are still missing.

National
AP

Officials airlift evacuees to safety after the remnants of Typhoon Halong devastate Alaska villages

  • By BECKY BOHRER, CEDAR ATTANASIO and GENE JOHNSON - Associated Press
  • Updated

Officials in Alaska are rushing to find housing for people from tiny coastal villages devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong. But the remote location and severe damage are limiting their options as they race against other impending storms and the onset of winter. High winds and storm surge seawater battered low-lying, isolated Alaska Native communities in western Alaska over the weekend. The Coast Guard plucked two dozen people from their homes after the structures floated out to sea in high water, three people were missing or dead, and hundreds of people were staying in school shelters — including one with no working toilets, officials said. Across the region more than 1,500 people were displaced.