Remnant Typhoon Halong Impacts the Y-K Delta

On October 12, 2025, the remote western coast of Alaska found itself in the path of one of the most destructive storms to strike U.S. soil this year. At its peak, Typhoon Halong in the western Pacific was a Category 4-equivalent on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, before transforming into a major extratropical cyclone that slammed into the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (Y-K Delta). Storm surge reached six feet above normal high tide in some villages, causing homes to dislodge from their foundations, leaving several people missing, and resulting in at least one confirmed fatality (1).

Typhoon Halong in Alaska

It’s rare for a storm system like this to hit Alaska with such force. Generally, tropical cyclones weaken substantially by the time they reach the high latitudes of the North Pacific. But Halong’s remnants retained enough energy and moisture to inflict major damage. The indigenous Yup’ik communities of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok bore the brunt of the storm: in Kipnuk alone, virtually every building sustained damage, and with much of the region only accessible by air or water, the remoteness compounded the logistical challenges surrounding rescue and recovery. Given these conditions and the scale of the destruction, Alaska’s governor Mike Dunleavy estimates that many evacuees may be unable to return home for up to 18 months (2).

Wind gusts between 80 and 100 mph drove a massive storm surge inland, which flooded low-lying tundra and villages built on permafrost, or ground that is supposed to stay frozen year-round (3). With permafrost in the region growing less stable each year due to rising temperatures, and storm surges killing the vegetation that once insulated the frozen ground, Typhoon Halong’s devastation raises critical questions about the Y-K Delta’s future. Erosion, rising seas, thawing permafrost, and increasingly frequent severe storms are converging to put traditional coastal village life at risk (4).

Environmental and Climate Factors

Forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS) tracked Halong’s transition as it moved from the subtropics into the cooler water of the North Pacific. Even after losing its official “typhoon” status, Halong’s extratropical remnants merged with a jet-stream trough, which amplified its wind field and expanded the reach of its impacts.

Many coastal villages experienced devastating impacts from the remnants of Typhoon Halong. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation reported that at least 15 villages sustained substantial structural damage (5). Floodwater filled homes, fuel storages, and critical food sources for communities who practice subsistence living. In some villages, entire structures, including many homes, were dislodged from their foundations and carried downstream. Post-storm satellite images depict a landscape that may look unrecognizable to families who have called this land home for generations (6).

While Alaskan residents have faced powerful storms before, unusually warm ocean temperatures in the North Pacific in recent years seem to be fueling these systems and allowing them to travel farther north than usual. Typhoon Merbok in 2022 formed in a region of the Pacific that is usually too cold to support cyclogenesis, yet its remnants still struck Alaska’s west coast with force. Typhoon Halong, which originated in a region that is warm enough for tropical cyclones to form, carried that energy further north than usual, as above-average ocean temperatures along its path allowed it to retain significant strength and cause even greater impacts.

Because much of the Y-K Delta sits on thawing permafrost, which is losing its integrity as temperatures rise, these frozen soils soften, coastal bluffs collapse, and the elevation separating land from sea disappears. Experts have warned that as many as 10 coastal villages in the Y-K Delta region could require full relocation within the next few decades. In addition to thawing permafrost, the absence of protective sea ice this early in the cold season further compounded the problem. With open water stretching across the Bering Sea, the storm had no natural barrier to buffer its energy (4). The result was the highest observed water levels in Kipnuk’s history, reaching 6.6 feet above average high tide, and triggering one of the largest airlift operations ever to occur in the state (6).

Final Thoughts

In the days following the landfall of the remnant Typhoon Halong, hundreds of residents were airlifted from flooded villages to shelters in Bethel and Anchorage. Many evacuees are expected to spend months, perhaps even years, away from their homes while infrastructure is rebuilt or relocated. For the Yup’ik and other indigenous communities of the Y-K Delta, recovery is not only about rebuilding – it’s about the survival of culture and place. Discussions are already underway on relocation versus resilience, about how to rebuild homes on higher ground or adapt traditional lifestyles to an increasingly hostile coastal environment. “We will go back, because it’s our home,” one resident told the Alaska Beacon, capturing the resolve shared by many who face the harsh reality of places left uninhabitable by extreme weather (4).

Remnant Typhoon Halong’s destruction in Alaska shows how science, environment, and human settlement intersect in vulnerable regions. As oceans warm and sea ice and permafrost melt, the remnants of tropical cyclones, which used to be a rare and minor threat to the region, are becoming more capable of destruction in the Arctic. For now, western Alaska begins the long winter season with battered or lost homes and an uncertain future. It’s time for communities, scientists, urban planners, and policymakers to anticipate change and invest in resilience, so that generations to come can continue to call these cultural lands their home.

References

1. “Typhoon Halong Floods Remote Alaska Villages” AP News
2. “Alaska communities devastated…” The Guardian
3. “What is Permafrost?” NASA Science for Kids
4. “Typhoon Disaster in Western Alaska Raises Questions Around the Region’s Future” Alaska Beacon
5. “At Least 15 Yukon-Kuskokwim Region Villages Suffered Substantial Damage in Storm” Anchorage Daily News
6. “Satellite Imagery Shows Kipnuk Alaska Flooding From Typhoon Halong Remnants” Fox Weather
7. Figure 1., “Typhoon Halong” CIRA Satellite Library