Egan Center closes as shelter for Halong victims

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The Egan Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage closed Tuesday night as a shelter for hundreds of Alaskans displaced by ex-Typhoon Halong last month.

The announcement came as over 300 people who were evacuated from Western Alaska communities were being moved from both the Egan Center and Alaska Airlines Center on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus into private, non-congregate shelters.

Shelter operations from the Egan moved to the Spenard Community Recreation Center at 2020 West 48th Avenue. That location will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The strong storm made landfall over Oct. 11-12 on Alaska’s western coast, leaving a path of destruction in dozens of villages in the Kuskokwim delta area. One person was confirmed dead and two others were still missing.

The Spenard rec center shelter will be temporary, according to Bryan Fisher, director of the homeland security division.

“Closing the Egan Center doesn’t signal the end of our shelter support mission or diminish the urgent need to transition more people into non-congregate housing,” Fisher said in a prepared release.

While shelter operations ended at the Egan Center, the building will still be used as a United States Postal Service center for incoming mail for those displaced by Halong. That service will stop at the end of November, authorities said.

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