On September 17, 2022, Typhoon Merbok struck the coast of Western Alaska and destroyed or damaged homes, schools, roads, fish camps, and other infrastructure along a 1,300-mile stretch of coastline. After the storm, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the State of Alaska funds through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program for disaster recovery and mitigation, including restoration of infrastructure, housing, and local economies. The details of the award can be found on the project website here: CDBG-DR 2022 Typhoon Merbok.
On August 25, 2025, the State of Alaska released a Public Review Draft of the HUD CDBG-DR Typhoon Merbok Action Plan. The Public Review Draft Action Plan proposes a plan to allocate awarded funding based on unmet needs from the impacts of Typhoon Merbok and according to eligibility requirements set forth by HUD. For this award, a Draft Action Plan based on the best available public data was developed first to expedite funding to known priorities in the aftermath of Typhoon Merbok (e.g., housing construction).
The Draft Action Plan has data gaps. The State of Alaska needs to hear from impacted communities, now and throughout the process, to help fill those gaps.
The deadline for comments on the Public Review Draft Action Plan is September 24, 2025, at 11:59 PM AKST. Go to the project website (click here) or follow the instructions on the attached flyer to comment today.
Your comments on the Draft Action Plan are important, but this is not the only opportunity to share information about unmet needs resulting from the impacts of Typhoon Merbok. Later this fall, and through the spring of 2026, there will more opportunities to learn from impacted communities, and help refine the Action Plan. More information on that process, including ways to stay in touch with the project team and receive updates on the CDBG-DR process, coming soon.
If you have any immediate questions, please contact the project team:
Brandon McNaughton
Project Lead
DCRA: brandon.mcnaughton@alaska.gov
Anita Baker
Grant Administrator II
DCRA: anita.baker@alaska.gov
