Those on the ground in Alaska explain the massive operation underway to help potentially thousands of people affected by flooding across widespread rural, coastal areas.
00:00This has been a historic event and is the largest evacuation and sheltering in the state of Alaska in recent memory.
00:10The villages are really remote and they are spread across many, many miles.
00:15And so it is not easy to get to them and it is not easy for them to get to us.
00:20You can't just drive a car to them. You can't just drive a boat to them.
00:24It takes a lot more effort to be able to get resources and supplies to them.
00:28These communities are without power and they are very limited on their food.
00:32Some of these communities have less than 72 hours worth of food and one to two days worth of fuel to power the generators.
00:39Trying to put teams into those communities is really hard.
00:43And as you're responding to those communities, you don't want to displace those people already going through a horrific event.
00:51We are helping anybody who needs to get out of the small communities using our Army Guard helicopters to bring them to Bethel.
00:58And then from Bethel, anybody who is willing to get on a C-17 who wants to be evacuated, we're going to help them get back to conditions in Anchorage.
01:08And it is an all-hands-on deck. Everybody is supporting and trying to help Alaskans in their time of need.
01:13We are getting national teams that have responded to the Lahaina fires, currently the Los Angeles fires, they were there.
01:22That same team is actually here in Alaska right now starting to work those shelters.
01:27We've got hundreds of folks that are coming in from across the country to help.
01:31We have been hearing that there could be up to 2,000 folks that may need help with sheltering.
01:36This is going to be a long-term event. The winter is coming pretty fast.
01:43How do we shelter them and be respectful of them and their communities and their culture for the long-term until we get to where we can rebuild their homes?
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