Houses floated away in this Alaska Native village. Now residents want to move
Lead: On the night of Oct. 11, the remnants of Typhoon Halong flooded the low-lying Yup’ik village of Kwigillingok on Alaska’s southwest coast, lifting houses off their foundations and forcing most residents to evacuate. Noah Andrew Sr., 74, says his home floated roughly two miles inland with him inside; others were carried farther. Authorities report hundreds remain displaced and villagers are pressing state and federal officials for a planned relocation to higher ground. Officials say more study and recovery work will precede any move.
Key Takeaways
- Remnants of Typhoon Halong struck Kwigillingok on Oct. 11, causing widespread flooding and structural damage.
- Authorities say 678 people remain evacuated from Kwigillingok and nearby Kipnuk after the storm.
- Kwigillingok is a village of about 400 people; around 45 houses were swept away during the flooding.
- One resident died and two people are still reported missing after the storm.
- Residents propose relocating the village about 27 miles northeast to higher, inland ground to reduce future flood risk.
- Past community relocations — Newtok (~300 people; >$150 million) and Isle de Jean Charles — show high costs and mixed long-term outcomes.
- An Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium assessment identified 144 Alaska communities at risk and estimated $4.3 billion (2020 dollars) needed over five decades to address hazards.
Background
Many current Alaska Native villages were established or consolidated in the 1950s around schools and other federal infrastructure, a pattern that fixed populations in locations chosen for logistical reasons rather than long-term stability. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and other agencies encouraged settlement near supply routes and landing points, which often meant low-lying riverbanks and coastal sites. As a result, communities that rely on subsistence hunting and fishing now face more frequent threats from thawing permafrost, increased erosion and more severe coastal or riverine flooding linked to a warming climate.
Across western Alaska, tribal leaders and residents have long raised alarm about slow-moving environmental change; several communities have already pursued relocation to escape recurring damage. Moves are complex and costly: Newtok’s move began in the early 2000s and cost more than $150 million to move roughly 300 people; other efforts such as Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana also show how expensive and administratively difficult community relocations can be. Without a single agency responsible, villages often face years of planning, fundraising and interim displacement.
Main Event
On Oct. 11, the remnants of Typhoon Halong arrived overnight and produced rapid, powerful flooding across Kwigillingok. Residents describe water rising faster than in any previous flood; some homes built on simple wood foundations atop tundra were swept off their sites. Noah Andrew Sr., a 74-year-old lifelong resident and Russian Orthodox priest, recalled being inside his home as it began to float and being forced to ride with it until it grounded inland.
Not all structures moved the same way — some homes on pilings, about 10 feet above ground, shook but stayed in place, while roughly 45 other houses were displaced. Emergency response moved many residents to shelters in Bethel and Anchorage, about 400 miles away in the latter case, and the village school served as a temporary shelter for those remaining locally. With winter setting in, frozen rivers and limited transport mean access to damaged areas is intermittent and recovery work is slowing.
Local leaders say the storm crystallized a long-held preference among many residents to relocate the entire community to higher ground roughly 27 miles inland and northeast. State officials, however, say immediate priorities are disaster recovery and that formal relocation discussions and feasibility studies must follow. Governor Mike Dunleavy has said that relocation decisions require more study on costs, logistics and funding sources.
Analysis & Implications
Kwigillingok’s situation highlights the intersection of climate-driven hazards, cultural survival and governance. For villages where Yugtun (Yup’ik) is the primary language and subsistence lifestyles underpin daily life, prolonged evacuation or scattering of families to larger towns risks erosion of language use, traditional knowledge and subsistence practices. Cultural continuity is therefore a central concern, not only physical safety.
Financial and administrative hurdles complicate relocation. Past moves have required tens or hundreds of millions of dollars and years of planning; without a dedicated federal agency or a clear funding stream, communities often spend long periods in limbo. Even where funding has been secured, new infrastructure can encounter design and maintenance problems — examples from Newtok and Isle de Jean Charles show that housing, plumbing and community services remain difficult to get right.
Politically, a major relocation program would demand coordination across tribal, state and federal levels, and clarity about responsibilities for land, utilities and ongoing services. The state’s inclusion of relocation priorities in earlier reports shows awareness, but translating studies into committed, timely funding will be the key test. How quickly a timeline can be set will affect whether residents can move together as a community or risk long-term displacement to urban areas.
Comparison & Data
| Community | Estimated People Moved | Documented Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Newtok, Alaska | ~300 | > $150 million |
| Isle de Jean Charles, LA | small tribal community | Part of combined relocation costs > $198 million |
These figures underline how moving entire communities is capital-intensive and technically challenging. Newtok’s long, expensive process shows both the feasibility and durability risks of relocation: infrastructure can be built, but post-move engineering, maintenance and social supports require sustained investment. State and tribal assessments estimate a multidecade, multi-billion-dollar tab for addressing at-risk Alaska communities statewide.
Reactions & Quotes
“When we started floating away,” said a resident who rode his house inland, describing the suddenness of the flood.
Noah Andrew Sr., Kwigillingok resident
Context: Andrew’s account illustrates how fast the floodwaters rose on Oct. 11, and why many residents now favor moving to higher ground.
“It’s a complex question to get the answers for… where do you get the money and how do you do that?”
Gov. Mike Dunleavy (Alaska)
Context: The governor emphasized the fiscal and logistical complexity of community relocation while prioritizing immediate recovery after the storm.
“It’s spoken because people use it in their communities and homes,”
Ann Fienup-Riordan, cultural anthropologist
Context: Fienup-Riordan stressed the risk to Yup’ik language use if residents remain dispersed in English-dominant cities for extended periods.
Unconfirmed
- Exact timetable and firm funding commitments for a Kwigillingok relocation have not been announced and remain unresolved.
- Detailed engineering assessments for the proposed 27-mile inland site are not yet public, so the feasibility and full cost estimate are not confirmed.
- Long-term housing plans for evacuated residents who now live in Bethel or Anchorage are not finalized and may affect cultural continuity.
Bottom Line
Kwigillingok’s experience after the Oct. 11 storm is a stark example of how climate-driven flooding and permafrost thaw are now forcing communities to confront whether to stay and repeatedly repair, or move and preserve community cohesion at significant cost. Residents overwhelmingly favor relocation to higher ground to avoid future catastrophic floods; state and federal officials say recovery and further study must come first. The path forward will require sustained funding, clear intergovernmental responsibility and careful attention to cultural preservation to keep Yup’ik language and subsistence lifeways intact.
For Kwigillingok, timing matters: delays increase the chance that families permanently resettle elsewhere, weakening the social fabric that any relocation effort seeks to preserve. Federal and state decisions in the months ahead will shape whether the village can move together — and whether that move will sustain both safety and cultural continuity.