Kipnuk storm loan deadline hits Tuesday

Businesses and residents of Kipnuk have until Monday to apply for federal disaster loans tied to a storm that flooded the Western Alaska village nearly two years ago — a deadline that now arrives for a community most of whose residents have been evacuated.

The U.S. Small Business Administration set June 8 as the cutoff for economic-injury loan applications connected to the severe storm and flooding that struck Kipnuk on Aug. 16–18, 2024. The deadline for physical-damage loans passed Nov. 7, 2025, leaving economic-injury financing as the last SBA option for households and businesses still recovering from that flood. The agency says it will accept applications for 60 days past the deadline.

Economic-injury loans cover working capital — payroll, bills, ordinary operating costs — for losses caused by a disaster, even when a business suffered no physical damage. The SBA is offering up to $2 million, with interest as low as 4 percent for businesses, 3.25 percent for nonprofits, and 2.813 percent for homeowners and renters, repayable over as long as 30 years. No payments are due and no interest accrues for the first 12 months.

The 2024 storm was severe enough to make Kipnuk — a Yup'ik community of about 600 on the Kugkaktlik River near the Bering Sea coast — only the second tribe in Alaska's history to receive a federal disaster declaration. Floodwaters swamped homes in the low-lying village, floated away boardwalks, and toppled the bins used to collect raw sewage; the Native Village of Kipnuk's environmental director called the damage worse than that of Typhoon Merbok in 2022. Tribal Council President Adolph J. Paul requested the declaration, designated FEMA-4912-DR, which approved Public Assistance covering up to 98 percent of the cost of repairing public infrastructure, along with a $20 million grant to stabilize the riverbanks the village sits on.

Then came a far heavier blow. On Oct. 12, 2025, the remnants of Typhoon Halong tore into Western Alaska, pushing seawater more than six and a half feet above the high-tide line. In Kipnuk, the state estimates 90 percent of structures were destroyed, with homes lifted off their foundations and carried miles away. More than 300 residents were airlifted out by Alaska National Guard helicopters and a C-17 military transport to shelters in Bethel and Anchorage — part of one of the largest evacuations in recent Alaska history. Many are not expected home for a year or more, and some families are weighing whether to return at all.

That leaves Monday's deadline in an unusual place: a recovery program for one disaster closing just as the village reckons with the aftermath of a far greater one.

Eligible applicants can still apply online at sba.gov/disaster or reach the SBA's Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955.