The Bering Sea is no stranger to fall storms, but the long-term impacts of Typhoon Halong have raised troubling questions about the future of Alaska's coastal villages and Indigenous communities in particular.

What's happening?

Remnants of the typhoon hit the state's southwest coast on October 11 with hurricane force, according to NPR. Over 1,000 people — possibly over 2,000 — have been displaced, and at least one person has been reported dead, with others missing.

The Native Alaskan villages of Kwigillingok and Kipnuk were hit hardest. As the Associated Press has reported, officials estimate that over 30 percent of homes in Kwigillingok and 90 percent of homes in Kipnuk have been destroyed, with some literally washed away. 

Governor Mike Dunleavy has said many residents won't be able to return to their homes for at least a year and a half following the devastating damage, which has highlighted just how exposed Alaska's coastal villages may be to extreme weather events — now and in the future. 

According to Anchorage-based station KTUU, the combination of permafrost loss and rising sea levels is making the communities within the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta acutely vulnerable. As the surrounding area is just a few feet above sea level, any further loss could be devastating.

"It's not a dramatic rise in the southeast Bering Sea, but when you only are talking a few feet above sea level, every inch matters," Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, told KTUU.

Why are storms such a concern for Alaska?

There are 18 villages in the outer coastal area of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, and at least 10 will have to be relocated, according to climate scientist Torre Jorgenson, who spoke with the Alaska Beacon. The most at-risk villages are those that sit atop the diminishing permafrost. 

"So the ground is going down, and the water is coming up, and they'll be unlivable," said Jorgenson, whose recent study also noted the related threats of coastal erosion and ecosystem salinization. 

It's a tragedy for such a unique, beautiful, and culturally significant area and yet another blow to the way of life for the state's Indigenous people, including the Yup'ik, a historically marginalized population experiencing inequitable access to essential resources. With storms downing power lines and contaminating water sources with fuel, sewage, and salt, per the AP, a community that contributed so little to the planet-overheating pollution that drives extreme weather is nevertheless taking the brunt of its consequences. 

What's being done?

Kipnuk was one of nine Alaskan communities that had received a federal grant to improve its defenses against further erosion, according to E&E News. Unfortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency revoked that $20 million grant in May 2025. 

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It's hard to say how much difference that grant would have made in mitigating the October storm, but it's clear that funding is needed to support vulnerable areas. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski recently spoke against the EPA's framing that the funds are a waste of money. 

"They may prevent future disasters, and that's the point," she said in a speech on October 19 at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. "It's not just what happens today. It's the ability to look forward out into the future, to make it better into the future."

Supporting candidates who champion meaningful investments in both flood protection and the clean energy transition — which can help reduce the heat-trapping pollution that supercharges storms — could be the key to long-term resilience for vulnerable coastal communities now. It could also be the key to long-term survival for all communities down the line.

With the state earlier declaring a disaster, the Trump administration on October 22 approved disaster declarations at the federal level for Alaska and, in requests unrelated to Typhoon Halong, for Nebraska, North Dakota, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota. The president, meanwhile, denied similar requests from Vermont, Illinois, and Maryland, according to the AP, which noted that "the decisions fell mostly along party lines." 

The declarations are a path to securing funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the reconstruction of public infrastructure "and, in some cases, provide survivors money for repairs and temporary housing."

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