JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — One of the biggest emergency responses in Alaska in decades was underway Wednesday after the remnants of Typhoon Halong slammed into coastal villages, bringing a record storm surge over the weekend that swept away homes — some with people still inside — and leaving 1,500 residents in makeshift shelters.

Authorities worked to evacuate people to larger communities, including possibly hundreds of miles away in Anchorage, and provide food, clean water, power and fuel as rain and snow threatened in the coming days. One person died and two remain missing following the storm.

The crisis unfolding in southwest Alaska, where communities are accessible by boat or air, has drawn attention to Trump administration cuts to federal grants aimed at helping some small, mostly Indigenous villages prepare for the ravages of storms or mitigate their disaster risks.

A $20 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to Kipnuk, a village inundated by floodwaters, for example, was terminated by the Trump administration, a move challenged by environmental groups.

The weekend storm brought hurricane-force winds to some areas and water levels more than six feet above the highest normal tide line in two communities near the Bering Sea coastline, Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, breaking records there, according to the National Weather Service. It forced the evacuation of roughly 40% of those living in about 10 impacted communities and devastated Kipnuk, population 715, and Kwigillingok, which has about 380 residents.

Brea Paul of Kipnuk saw about 20 homes float past her in the moonlight, the people inside them blinking their phone lights into the darkness. Authorities have described people trying to find debris to cling onto as they bobbed in the water in the darkness and rescuing people from rooftops.

Kipnuk and Kwigillingok have a history of flooding

Kipnuk and Kwigillingok sit on a low-lying coastal landscape dotted with rivers and lakes called the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, about the size of Oregon.

Both have faced floods and threats from the changing climate. The communities, which are about 500 miles from Anchorage, are accessible only by air or boat at this time of year. Winds and damage to a runway in Kipnuk has made even access by plane and helicopter challenging.

There are other challenges, too: Kipnuk, as part of its day-to-day life, is among a number of communities in rural Alaska that lack widespread running water. People carry water to their homes and haul out their waste using so-called “honey buckets. ” It has a community facility called a “washeteria” where people can get showers, do laundry and get clean water.

The village, a few miles from the Bering Sea and on a river, has a history of flooding and riverbank erosion — it has been hit by flooding at least 30 times in the last 50 years. Thawing permafrost — a layer of soil that remains frozen throughout the year — is an ongoing concern because it can exacerbate the erosion and undermine infrastructure.

In Kwigillingok, which also sits along a river and near the Bering Sea, relocation has been a critical concern for residents, according to a 2022 report prepared for the local tribe by the Alaska Institute for Justice.

Grants were in place to help both villages before Trump administration canceled them

Kipnuk was awarded a $20 million grant to protect its boardwalk — a means of travel within the community — as well as 1,400 feet (430 meters) of river from erosion, according to a federal website that tracks government spending.

The Trump administration canceled the roughly $1.6 billion in Community Change Grant awarded by EPA “for policy reasons,” according to a legal challenge. That included money for Kipnuk.

The cancellation is part of a broader pushback by the Trump administration against climate and environmental justice programs favored by the Biden administration.

There was limited work on the project before EPA ended the grant. The village had purchased a bulldozer for shipment and briefly hired a bookkeeper, according to Public Rights Project, which represents Kipnuk.

The group said no single project was likely to prevent the recent flood. But work to remove abandoned fuel tanks and other material to prevent it from falling into the river might have been feasible during the 2025 construction season.

“What’s happening in Kipnuk shows the real cost of pulling back support that was already promised to front line communities,” said Jill Habig, CEO of Public Rights Project. “These grants were designed to help local governments prepare for and adapt to the growing effects of climate change. When that commitment is broken, it puts people’s safety, homes and futures at risk.”

Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said that while the canceled grant probably wouldn't have completed construction in time to make a difference over the weekend, it underscores the “the urgent need for federal investment to make these communities more resilient.”

“No community in the wealthiest country on earth should lack the basic infrastructure needed to keep its people safe,” she said on social media.

Separately, Kwigillingok was selected for a nearly $1.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2023 for a scoping project related to potential relocation of the village.

Kwigillingok had not yet received the funds, according to a FEMA dashboard, before the Trump administration abruptly revoked $3.6 billion in funds aimed at mitigating disaster risk last April.

FEMA did not immediately respond to questions about the grant.

Rebuilding could be difficult as winter approaches

The timing of the storm as winter approaches presents challenges for the largely Indigenous communities, said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It will be nearly impossible for residents to rebuild before winter hits, he added.

In addition, some people in the area may have lost freezers full of food such as salmon and moose intended to get them through the winter.

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Bedayn reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Michael Phillis in Washington, Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego and Cedar Attanasio in Seattle contributed.