Huge Alaska storm passes, leaves widespread damage

STORM AFTERMATH. A couple stand in front of flooded River Street Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 in Nome, Alaska. High winds and surging waves pummeled Alaska's western coast Wednesday, churning the Bering Sea and forcing residents of Nome and isolated native villages to seek higher ground inland. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Peggy Fagerstrom)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska— A massive storm that battered Alaska’s western coast with hurricane-strength winds and towering sea surges has passed out of the region in a much weaker state, leaving behind widespread damage and a missing man who may have been swept out to a churning sea.

So far, 37 communities have reported some form of damage, said Jeremy Zidek, spokesman for the state’s emergency management agency.

The strongest storm to hit the state in four decades also left behind tales of human endurance.

In one remote village that lost heat and power early Wednesday, about 20 vehicles lined up along an air strip and used their headlights to guide in a plane carrying repair workers.

Other residents came together and did traditional Eskimo dances used during whaling season to seek good weather.

On Thursday, rescuers searched for a 26-year-old man who authorities said may have been washed into the Bering Sea during the storm.

Kyle Komok of Teller was last seen on Wednesday afternoon as he headed toward a jetty where waves were cresting as high as 10 feet (3 meters), Alaska State Troopers said.

Emergency responders called the storm an epic event that displaced residents, flooded the shoreline, ripped up roofs and knocked out power in scores of villages.

Officials said Thursday the process of gauging the full extent of the damage will begin soon. They noted some of the hardest-hit communities are in areas where winter daylight comes late in the day and mornings are in pitch darkness.

Forecasters said another storm is stepping in to replace the tempest, but the new storm is much weaker. It is expected to bring winds ranging from 20 mph (32 kph) to 40 mph (64 kph), said National Weather Service meteorologist Don Moore.

In comparison, the storm that pounded the Bering Sea coast this week carried gusts of nearly 90 mph (145 kph) and created tides as high as 10 feet (3 meters) above normal.

Though far less powerful, the new storm will keep water levels from receding as quickly, Moore said.

Communities hard hit include the northwest Alaska villages of Point Hope, built on a large gravel spit, and Kivalina, one of the most eroded communities in the state.

Point Hope Mayor Steve Oomittuk said homes in the Inupiat Eskimo community have been without electricity and heat since early Wednesday, after winds gusting at 80 mph (128 kph) slammed an old wooden shack into a power pole with five main lines, cutting it in half. The building then broke apart, sending wood flying.

“There’s a lot of debris in that area,” Oomittuk said Thursday morning, soon after repair workers landed at the air strip.

With the lights out, vehicles lined up along the runway to guide the plane with headlights.

Oomittuk said the winds were too strong during the storm to get a full picture of the damage around the community.

More than 500 of Point Hope’s nearly 700 residents have been staying at the village school, which has its own generator. Among them was Nellie Sears, the school librarian. She said every classroom was full of residents seeking shelter.

For a while there was a warning Wednesday that the barreling storm could get worse. So villagers started performing the traditional Eskimo dances they do during whaling season, when they are seeking good weather.

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Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen contributed to this report.