KWIGILLINGOK, Alaska (AP) — Darrel John watched the final evacuees depart his village on the western coast of Alaska in helicopters and small planes and walked home, avoiding the debris piled on the boardwalks over the swampy land.
He is one of seven residents who chose to remain in Kwigillingok after the remnants of Typhoon Halong devastated the village last month, uprooting homes and floating many of them miles away, some with residents inside. One person was killed and two remain missing.
“I just couldn’t leave my community,” John said while inside the town’s school, a shelter and command post where he has helped solve problems in the storm’s aftermath.
But what will become of that community and others damaged by the severe flooding — whether their people, including John’s children, will come back — is an open question as winter arrives.
The office of Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says the state’s focus is on repairing the villages and supporting the more than 1,600 people who were displaced. It could take 18 months. Hundreds are in temporary housing, many in Alaska’s biggest city, Anchorage, where they must accustom themselves to a world very different from the subsistence lifestyle they’re used to.
Even with short-term repairs, residents question whether their villages can persist where they are as rising seas, erosion, melting permafrost and worsening storms threaten inundation year after year. John hopes repairs can keep the community together long enough to come up with a plan to move the village.
A region of natural abundance — and floods
Where the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers enter the Bering Sea is one of the largest river deltas in the world — a low-lying area roughly the size of Alabama, with dozens of villages and a population of about 25,000 people.
Flooding has long been a problem. Strong winds can push high tides and even sheets of ice onto land. Current environmental conditions put villages on alert as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of storms.
Residents of Kwigillingok express apprehension about returning, recalling the destruction caused by Typhoon Halong. As restoration efforts proceed, some worry if their home will ever fully recover.
“A lot of people have claimed they’re not returning. They don’t want to do this again,” said Louise Paul, a 35-year resident of Kipnuk, one of the hardest-hit villages.
In the face of severe impacts from ongoing climate change, managing relocation of communities remains a daunting task, highlighting broader concerns about sustainability in vulnerable regions worldwide.
