Hundreds of Galena residents were forced out of the Yukon River Community when their houses were overcome with water and knocked off their foundations by giant blocks of ice.
"The Yukon River isn't something we can underestimate," Kimberly Pilot, a Galena resident, said. "The fact we all got out without any injury is nothing less than a miracle."
On Thursday, more than twenty people attended the recovery meeting at the Red Cross headquarters in Anchorage. Displaced children from Galena played with donated teddy bears while the adults listened to the state give the latest update on their water-drenched homes.
Many people, like Ragine Pilot, who fled to Anchorage with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, say this flooding was something they've never seen before.
"I've lived in Galena since 1974 and while we've been through floods, it has never gotten that high," Pilot said.
On May 28, Pilot was supposed to celebrate her birthday, however the day turned into a different kind of excitement. It was more like a panic that settled in when she saw the Yukon River making an uninvited visit into her house at 2 a.m., forcing her to find safety on higher ground.
"I'm just trying to understand how a six-foot surge of water in thirty minutes would not make you guys say this is critical," Kim Kopp, another Galena evacuee who attended the meeting.
Kopp's children made the dangerous boat ride in the ice-plagued river to get to safety. She came to the meeting asking the most popular question of the evening, "Why wasn't there faster action to help the people of Galena?"
The Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management allowed each resident time to voice their concern.
"I think the communications can always be better," Michael O'Hare, the department's deputy, said. "One of the things that can frustrate us all is communications in a disaster. Our focus is to communicate directly with the local leadership to support their needs."
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