BETHEL — As officials worked Thursday to evacuate hundreds more residents displaced from Yukon-Kuskokwim villages devastated by a catastrophic storm over the weekend, evacuees preparing for an airlift in Bethel faced an uncertain future.
Waiting to board a massive C-17 Globemaster III military transport plane bound for Anchorage on Thursday morning, many evacuees from Kipnuk — like Mychalann Panruk — said they were unsure what awaited them hundreds of miles away in the state’s largest city, or when they could return home.
“Scared, worried,” Panruk said about “how we’re going to live, where we’re going to live.”
On board the Alaska National Guard flight Thursday morning were 211 residents of Kipnuk, according to Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management spokesman Jeremy Zidek. Nearly all the homes in the Yup’ik community of about 700 near the Bering Sea coast were damaged when the remnants of Typhoon Halong slammed into communities along the Western Alaska coast.
Like many others displaced, Panruk, who was holding her 2-month-old child, said she didn’t know how long she would be in Anchorage.
Others, like Benjamin Martin, said they planned to stay with friends or relatives in or around Anchorage.
Martin said he planned to live with a son in Wasilla until it was safe to return to Kipnuk. His home, he said, was mostly unscathed since he built it at one of the high points in the village, but he left because the power and other infrastructure in the village was so damaged.
“I feel so sorry, those not as fortunate as I am,” Martin said as he sat next to his wife of 47 years, Dolly.
Zidek estimated that 20 to 30 residents planned to stay behind in Kipnuk.
Thursday’s evacuations followed the arrival of nearly 300 displaced Kipnuk residents in Anchorage on Wednesday night.
A second C-17 flight on Thursday with about 100 residents of Kwigillingok — a severely damaged Yup’ik village of about 400 people at the mouth of the Kuskokwim River — was also destined for Anchorage, where evacuees would continue to more permanent shelters or stay with friends or family in the region, Zidek and Alaska National Guard Lt. Col. Brendon Holbrook said.
One Kwigillingok resident, 67-year-old Ella Mae Kashatok, died after the home she was in broke loose and floated toward the Bering Sea amid record tidal flooding, Alaska State Troopers said. Two other family members last seen in the home remained missing Thursday.
Leaders of both villages initiated a mass evacuation, assisted by the state and Alaska National Guard, on Wednesday because the communities and their shelters had become too unsuitable to stay in.
Overall, the storm and its hurricane-force winds and record tidal-surge flooding swamped large swaths of the Yukon-Kuskokwim region and forced more than 1,000 from their homes.
Holbrook said he believed that 200 to 300 residents of other villages in the region affected by the storm wanted to be evacuated as of Thursday morning, but the guard’s priority was first moving Kwigillingok residents to Bethel by helicopter.
Private planes and regional airlines have also been helping evacuate people, according to Holbrook and other officials. Another C-17 flight from Bethel to Anchorage was scheduled for Friday, and would likely hold people from other communities in the region who are seeking shelter, according to Zidek.
On Thursday, as Kipnuk residents prepared to depart Bethel — which had been inundated with donations and had reached its sheltering capacity, according to officials — they waited in single-file lines or sat on cots while children snacked on candy before boarding the giant C-17 for the hourlong flight to Anchorage.
Most had few belongings with them and said they didn’t have time to gather more before fleeing rising waters, or they had to leave much behind when being taken to Bethel.
On the floor of the cargo aircraft, people sat in rows with a long strap laid across their laps to serve as a shared seatbelt. Guard members distributed earplugs and encouraged people to stretch their legs while they waited. They helped some elders walk up the rear ramp and get buckled into some of the few seats available.
Some passengers held babies and young children in their arms. Others posed for selfies with their neighbors. Many appeared exhausted. A few shed tears.
In the cockpit, pilot Steven Koreitz said he planned to fly twice between Bethel and Anchorage on Thursday. “Being able to help Alaskans is just a really cool opportunity. I know it’s really dire times for them,” he said.
Carl Smith, who had arrived in Bethel with his wife, Louisa Slim, and two kids, Axel and Andre Smith-Slim, said he didn’t want to leave Kipnuk but did so for the safety of his family after rising floodwaters knocked the 4-year-old home he built off its moorings.
“I wanted to stay and help, but my kids kept asking when we’re leaving, so we just left for their safety,” he said. “I thought the flood would be like the floods we usually have because I’ve been there for 37 years, and this one was different.”
Smith said he’s not sure how badly damaged his home is. It floated off its foundation in the flood and settled near a neighbor’s.
Anna Smith is also not sure when she’ll be able to return to Kipnuk. Her home separated from its foundation amid the floodwaters and drifted several miles downriver — with her and her kids inside — before they were rescued by local search-and-rescue teams by boat. The home, she said, took on a lot of water damage.
Smith doesn’t know how long she’ll be in Anchorage, whether she and her kids will be in the shelter for the duration of their stay or whether her home can be repaired.
“They just told me it’s best to go to Anchorage right now, so we’re going,” Smith said.
