Golovin, after the storm

It has only been a week since Golovin got slammed by a huge storm, the tail end of a typhoon.  The 17 National Guard troops left yesterday, but community members told me what a big help they were in just cleaning up debris.   No one, thankfully, was injured but many folks lost their freezers with subsistence fish and meat for winter.  Silt was left everywhere.  Golovin was particularly hard hit because of its precarious position on a peninsula hugging the shore and jutting out into the ocean on 3 sides.  

Many newer houses are up the hill and people up there could only watch from their windows.

      

Small buildings, Connex and storage containers were dropped around town and surrounded by silt.

The beach became one with town,       . 

                                

 More scenes that are post-storm.

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Work crews from Unalakleet and elsewhere are working the heavy equipment and rebuilding roads and infrastructure alongside locals.  The school, relatively unscathed inside, is housing everyone but the National Guard.  The playground, inundated with sewage and spilled diesel fuel has been condemned indefinitely until samples can be evaluated and the toxic ground replaced.  Kids take off boots at the door and put them in plastic bags to avoid bringing contaminants into the flooring.  Some teacher housing is unlivable, so the principal and his wife are sleeping in the library until their polluted, asbestos tiled floors can be replaced by a hazmat team.

The little store across the street was well-stocked and Heidi was friendly.  The students and staff at the school were welcoming and business as usual.  

Why people live here....twilight in Golovin.