Rare Storm Hits Alaska

The American meteorological service reported that a rare and powerful storm is hitting western Alaska, causing massive waves and floods that have swept away homes. The weather service wrote on Twitter: "The remnants of Typhoon Merbok are striking western Alaska... over the weekend, with severe waves and hurricane-force winds," adding that "flooding will increase" in intensity. Climate expert Rick Thoman from the University of Alaska told Agence France-Presse, "This is undoubtedly the strongest storm we have seen at the beginning of fall in the Bering Sea in the last fifty years." In the coastal village of Golovin, "water surrounds the school, homes are flooded, and at least two houses are floating," according to municipal services in Fairbanks, Alaska's second-largest city.