Zürcher Nachrichten - Alaskans assess damage as powerful storm rumbles north

EUR -
AED 3.819087
AFN 72.682799
ALL 98.089398
AMD 408.896788
ANG 1.86594
AOA 954.524768
ARS 1062.897161
AUD 1.665979
AWG 1.871617
AZN 1.777387
BAM 1.948636
BBD 2.090515
BDT 123.725154
BGN 1.955014
BHD 0.392133
BIF 3061.046786
BMD 1.039787
BND 1.406131
BOB 7.154697
BRL 6.361111
BSD 1.035394
BTN 88.022406
BWP 14.310391
BYN 3.388344
BYR 20379.834362
BZD 2.081249
CAD 1.497783
CDF 2984.18977
CHF 0.932398
CLF 0.03737
CLP 1031.154673
CNY 7.589614
CNH 7.599344
COP 4564.666982
CRC 522.379595
CUC 1.039787
CUP 27.554368
CVE 109.862174
CZK 25.147272
DJF 184.372199
DKK 7.457771
DOP 63.048218
DZD 140.184369
EGP 53.110785
ERN 15.596812
ETB 129.065422
FJD 2.410903
FKP 0.823493
GBP 0.829745
GEL 2.92165
GGP 0.823493
GHS 15.220047
GIP 0.823493
GMD 74.864534
GNF 8945.1154
GTQ 7.977672
GYD 216.613671
HKD 8.078857
HNL 26.282379
HRK 7.458298
HTG 135.452043
HUF 414.927541
IDR 16823.397298
ILS 3.791088
IMP 0.823493
INR 88.514664
IQD 1356.313833
IRR 43762.057998
ISK 145.144124
JEP 0.823493
JMD 161.994466
JOD 0.73731
JPY 163.16967
KES 134.392694
KGS 90.461796
KHR 4160.704156
KMF 484.670921
KPW 935.808139
KRW 1511.1543
KWD 0.320421
KYD 0.862828
KZT 543.751028
LAK 22661.689661
LBP 92716.151012
LKR 303.98248
LRD 187.91916
LSL 19.061624
LTL 3.070222
LVL 0.628957
LYD 5.087298
MAD 10.420392
MDL 19.07089
MGA 4885.041302
MKD 61.568897
MMK 3377.189135
MNT 3533.197679
MOP 8.288728
MRU 41.176624
MUR 48.713702
MVR 15.980014
MWK 1794.887232
MXN 20.936114
MYR 4.668836
MZN 66.446297
NAD 19.061624
NGN 1607.979191
NIO 38.099935
NOK 11.79236
NPR 140.836249
NZD 1.841815
OMR 0.400316
PAB 1.035394
PEN 3.855426
PGK 4.198565
PHP 60.928948
PKR 288.191432
PLN 4.273306
PYG 8073.320348
QAR 3.774424
RON 4.977253
RSD 117.035318
RUB 104.212733
RWF 1443.294071
SAR 3.906118
SBD 8.717115
SCR 14.499106
SDG 625.434214
SEK 11.481583
SGD 1.411215
SHP 0.823493
SLE 23.710672
SLL 21803.826448
SOS 591.724664
SRD 36.528736
STD 21521.501253
SVC 9.059694
SYP 2612.497459
SZL 19.056942
THB 35.631446
TJS 11.32676
TMT 3.649654
TND 3.299171
TOP 2.435285
TRY 36.618975
TTD 7.027166
TWD 34.012527
TZS 2503.289383
UAH 43.422667
UGX 3798.037414
USD 1.039787
UYU 46.180229
UZS 13348.925833
VES 53.527677
VND 26462.591046
VUV 123.445651
WST 2.872712
XAF 653.554362
XAG 0.035083
XAU 0.000397
XCD 2.810077
XDR 0.789797
XOF 653.554362
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.336802
ZAR 19.162504
ZMK 9359.342251
ZMW 28.653662
ZWL 334.81114
  • CMSD

    0.0000

    23.56

    0%

  • GSK

    0.1700

    33.6

    +0.51%

  • RIO

    -0.0900

    58.64

    -0.15%

  • RBGPF

    59.9600

    59.96

    +100%

  • RELX

    -0.3100

    45.47

    -0.68%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    23.86

    +0.08%

  • NGG

    0.8200

    58.5

    +1.4%

  • BTI

    0.1131

    36.24

    +0.31%

  • BCC

    -0.2600

    122.75

    -0.21%

  • AZN

    0.9100

    65.35

    +1.39%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0100

    7.27

    -0.14%

  • BCE

    0.0500

    23.16

    +0.22%

  • JRI

    0.1100

    12.06

    +0.91%

  • SCS

    -0.5800

    11.74

    -4.94%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    8.39

    +0.12%

  • BP

    0.1900

    28.6

    +0.66%

Alaskans assess damage as powerful storm rumbles north
Alaskans assess damage as powerful storm rumbles north / Photo: - - NOAA/GOES/AFP

Alaskans assess damage as powerful storm rumbles north

Residents in towns and villages on Alaska's western coast were beginning Sunday to assess the damage from one of the most powerful storms to hit the region in decades.

Text size:

The vast remains of Typhoon Merbok battered coastal towns as it rumbled northward, and by Sunday morning it had largely moved into the Chukchi Sea, north of the Bering Strait.

But coastal towns in that northern region remained under flood warnings Sunday, the National Weather Service (NWS) Fairbanks office tweeted.

The storm has hammered a vast stretch of Alaska's lengthy coastline, bringing powerful winds, tidal surges and what the NWS described as "angry seas," with waves of 50 feet (15 meters) or more.

Governor Mike Dunleavy has issued a disaster declaration.

Because of the remoteness of many coastal villages, and with communications limited, a full picture of the damage is expected to emerge slowly.

But officials and local residents said the destruction was severe.

"So many communities I have visited, from Bethel, Unalakleet, Quinahgak, Hooper Bay and up to Nome and Teller, have been inundated by the storm," Lisa Murkowski, one of Alaska's US senators, tweeted Sunday.

"I am heartsick at the devastation."

The state Emergency Operations Center said it had received "reports from multiple communities of power disruptions, damaged homes...flooding and infrastructure damage," but no reports of injuries.

Low-lying coastal areas were hardest hit, according to meteorologists and local news reports, with schools and airports flooded and some roads washed away.

One small town -- Golovin, on the Norton Sound -- saw houses float away.

"We've had flooding in the past a few times, but it was never this severe," Clarabelle Lewis, a tribal official with the Chinik Eskimo Community, told the Anchorage Daily News. "We've never had homes moved from their foundations."

In Shaktoolik, a village of some 220 people on a gravelly spit between the Tagoomenik River and Norton Sound, Mayor Lars Sookiayak said that a berm built to protect the town from the sea -- which had withstood many previous storms -- had been wiped out.

"We're pretty heartbroken," he told Alaska Public Media News. "We're almost becoming an island."

F.Carpenteri--NZN