Monday, December 1, 2025

Photo: Reggie Paul of Kipnuk, Alaska holds up a house frame he helped to build. (Rhonda McBride)

For several southwest Alaska communities, it took one night of hurricane force winds and floods to destroy what will take years to rebuild.

How and where to begin is a question that a group of men from Kipnuk tackled at a construction workshop in Anchorage, where they’ve been staying since their village was evacuated after an October storm.

But as Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA found out, this time, instead of disaster, it was opportunity that came knocking.

The whack of a hammer. The buzz of a saw. Those are the sounds of hope.

A group of Western Alaska disaster evacuees volunteered for training on basic construction skills, that they hope to use to rebuild their village. (Photo: Rhonda McBride)

Tiffany Caudle is the training coordinator for Alaska Works Partnership, which offered a one-week program on how to frame a house.

“They just lost their homes. They lost everything. I do think this is really helping them positive and stay hopeful. They’ve all been so grateful for this training.”

They were all volunteers, like Devon Mann.

“This is the door. And this one’s going to be the window.”

Devon Mann, 19, works on building a house frame. His house was destroyed in a flood that picked it up and carried it more than five miles. (Photo: Rhonda McBride)

Devon looked sharp in his brand, new hoodie, given to him after a military cargo plane airlifted him and most of Kipnuk to Anchorage. He came with only the clothing he had on – and feelings of trauma, after a five-mile ride in a floating house.

“I thought something bad was going to happen to the house, like break apart. I thought that would be it for us. But almost gave up.  But I had hope. I h