![]() Family members, scattered all around Alaska the rest of the year, often return seasonally to spend time sharing work and camp life. They are often located near camps of relatives and longtime friends. During this time they live and work in stationary, seasonal camps that families maintain and improve for decades. In addition to the serious damage experienced in towns and villages, the typhoon destroyed and damaged many of these subsistence-hunting and fishing camps the Native people rely on.įamilies move out on the land when it is time to start harvesting and processing. These resources provide food as well as cash income. Subsistence means hunting and harvesting fish, birds, sea mammals, land animals, fur-bearing animals, berries, and materials that are made into everyday functional objects and crafts for sale. Many Alaskans put together their livelihood from a patchwork of seasonal labor, the annual “Permanent Fund” check from state oil revenues, and a very important component of subsistence hunting and fishing. A few communities have thousands of residents but most are small, home to a few hundred people at most. ![]() ![]() Native women have raised concerns that the berry harvest will now suffer long-term damage from inundation by salt water.Īlaskan coastal communities are “off the grid,” connected to the rest of Alaska only by boat or plane. Tons of sand buried large areas of tundra covering important food resources like berries. Tidal waves and flooding reshaped river courses, islands, lagoons and deltas, undoubtedly impacting animal migration patterns. Homes, stores, sheds and boats were swept away. Essential infrastructure like water purification, power and sewage plants, seawalls, berms, roads, bridges and large fuel tanks were hard hit.Īirport runways were temporarily flooded and covered with debris. According to the state government’s early damage assessment, 40 communities suffered significant damage and would need emergency assistance. 16 to 18, Typhoon Merbok destroyed numerous buildings and much of the infrastructure of Western Alaska’s coastal communities. It brought massive amounts of rain, waves, salt water, sand and high winds, wreaking havoc along a 1,300-mile swath of coast from the Kuskokwim River north to the Bering Strait. Merbok formed in cold waters off Japan it regained power and moisture as it moved east across water that “historically would not have supported tropical storm formation,” said Rick Thoman, Alaska climate specialist from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.įrom this new origin site, Thoman explained, Typhoon Merbok traveled a shorter distance and remained unusually powerful as it reached Alaska.
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