Transcript: In western Alaska, some of the nation's 0:02 most remote coastal villages are facing 0:05 what officials call absolute 0:07 devastation. 0:09 Over the weekend, the remnants of 0:11 Typhoon Halong slammed into the Yukon 0:14 Kusquim Delta, battering scattered 0:17 settlements with hurricane force winds 0:19 topping 100 mph and a record storm surge 0:24 that swallowed entire communities under 0:27 several feet of water. 0:29 The damage was swift and extreme. In 0:32 Kipnook and Quigaling, the two hardest 0:36 hit villages. Floodwaters tore houses 0:38 from their foundations, in some cases 0:41 while families were still inside. A US 0:45 Coast Guard officer described residents 0:47 groping through the darkness, clinging 0:50 to floating debris as the water rose. 0:53 Search and rescue teams from the Coast 0:55 Guard, the Alaska National Guard, and 0:58 Alaska State Troopers launched an 1:00 immediate response, deploying boats and 1:03 helicopters to pull people from rooftops 1:06 and overturned skiffs.
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By Monday, they 1:10 had saved at least 51 people and two 1:13 dogs. The storm turned deadly as well. 1:16 One woman in Quigalingok was confirmed 1:19 dead and crews are still searching for 1:22 two other residents reported missing. 1:25 More than a thousand people are now 1:27 displaced. Local schools have become 1:29 makeshift shelters. About 680 people in 1:33 Kipnook and another 400 in Quigaling. 1:37 Video from the region shows houses 1:39 floated off their pilings, twisted power 1:42 poles, and in Kotlick, an empty home 1:45 flipped completely upside down. For 1:48 many, the danger will linger long after 1:51 the floods recede. Winter arrives early 1:54 in western Alaska, and these villages 1:57 rely on subsistence hunting and fishing 2:00 to stock freezers with meat and fish 2:02 that sustain them through the dark 2:04 months. Salt water ruined many of those 2:07 stores, turning a natural disaster into 2:10 a looming food security crisis. At the 2:14 same time, damaged heating stoves leave 2:17 families vulnerable to subzero 2:19 temperatures that are only weeks away. 2:22 Geography compounds every challenge. 2:25 There are no roads connecting most of 2:28 these settlements to the outside world. 2:30 Supplies arrived by boat, barge, or 2:33 small aircraft. Governor Mike Dunlevy 2:36 has issued a disaster declaration and 2:39 promised that help is on the way with 2:42 state and federal agencies rushing 2:44 generators, fuel, and emergency 2:46 provisions. Still, the logistics of 2:49 delivering heavy equipment or even 2:52 plywood to patch walls are daunting. 2:55 Amid the wreckage, stories of resilience 2:58 are surfacing. In Napakiaak, resident 3:01 Jaime Jenkins called the storm the worst 3:04 I've ever seen, yet described how local 3:07 men jumped into their own boats, going 3:10 house to house to ferry neighbors to 3:12 higher ground. Elsewhere, volunteers are 3:16 organizing food drives and distributing 3:19 whatever supplies remain dry. Officials 3:22 warned the road to recovery will be 3:24 long. Rebuilding homes, restoring power, 3:28 and replacing a winter's worth of lost 3:31 food could take months. Time these 3:34 communities simply don't have before the 3:36 first hard freeze. For now, residents 3:40 are focused on immediate survival, 3:43 pumping out basements, salvaging what 3:45 possessions they can, and supporting one 3:48 another as they wait for outside aid to 3:50 arrive. In a region accustomed to harsh 3:54 weather, this storm still stands out for 3:57 its sheer force and for striking, just 4:00 as families were preparing for winter. 4:03 The coming weeks will test the endurance 4:05 of western Alaska's villages, and the 4:08 speed at which aid can reach them will 4:11 determine whether thousands of people 4:13 enter the dark season with heat, 4:15 shelter, and enough food to last until 4:18 Spring.
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