After a storm swamped remote communities in western Alaska, search and rescue efforts are underway using military and state air resources. [Credit: Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Facebook page]
Key Takeaways:
A powerful storm, remnants of Typhoon Halong, caused hurricane-force winds (up to 100 mph), significant storm surge (over 6.3 feet), widespread flooding, and communication outages across western Alaska.
U.S. military and Alaska's aviation resources, including the Air National Guard, Army National Guard, and U.S. Coast Guard, launched extensive search and rescue operations in the affected coastal villages.
Joint rescue efforts have saved at least 51 lives so far, with ongoing searches for missing individuals based on secondhand reports amid the damaged and remote region.
Aviation resources from the U.S. military and Alaska were mobilized to search for people missing after a powerful storm moved through western part of the state over the weekend.
State officials said the storm was the remnants of Typhoon Halong and brought with it hurricane-force winds.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.