Breakup blues: Rapid thaw means flooding for homeowners in Butte

BUTTE — Part of the annual rites of spring for most Alaskans is dealing with what comes along with the changeover from winter — breakup. Here in the Mat-Su, that can result in the pleasurable aspect of soaking up the sun for the first time since October. Or, it can mean dealing with the melting snow and related issues.

Chris and Tracey Loscar of Butte are finding that out first-hand. The Loscar's live at the end of Cheechako Drive off Bodenburg Loop. Chris, an on-call Butte EMS and his wife Tracey, a Mat-Su EMS battalion chief, are on the front line of a spring runoff challenge which has threatened their home, garage and septic drain field.

This year's snow pack is quickly dwindling in the Palmer-Wasilla area. The fast melt has resulted in a large amount of standing water in a field adjacent to the Loscars’ property. The water collected into the size of a small pond, breeched the culverts and raised gravel road surface which also serves as a ingress-egress for several property owners, and is so far just causing headaches and concerns.

Chris Loscar said troubles began late Saturday night and really got out of control Sunday morning.

"By Sunday, the water was rushing over the driveway,” Chris said. “It washed out the culvert."

He said the small stream of fast-moving water eventually widened and made it impossible to get vehicles from the garage out to the road. Loscar spent Tuesday constructing an 8x16-foot bridge strong enough to support the weight off the family's pickup and SUVs. By Wednesday afternoon, the water levels had dropped somewhat, but not before lapping at the foundation of his home and garage.

Loscar said as of late afternoon Wednesday, he hadn't had any damage inside his home. Loscar said he was also concerned about the effect the large amount of water was having on his septic's drain field. Additionally, the water came from a field, owned by The Reindeer Farm used to pasture horses. Standing in his front yard, the smell of horse manure is noticeable.

Loscar said he is concerned there may be fecal contamination in the runoff. He is having both his septic and the standing water tested. Loscar said Wednesday night, the issue got worse as runoff levels began to rise again. Things got so bad that he spent part of the night filling and placing sandbags around part of his property to divert the water. As of early Thursday afternoon, the 6 to 8 inches of water surrounding his garage had been diverted and the standing water pumped out.

Loscar said he has spoke with neighbors and at least one is experiencing drain field issues. Most of his immediate neighbors had standing water issues, Loscar said, but not to nearly the same degree as his.

Who's responsible?

Loscar said he contacted borough officials early in the week. Also in the mix were individuals from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the US Army Corps of Engineers and personnel from The Reindeer Farm.

"The DEC said they were too short-staffed to send someone. I talked with Jim Jensen and Jim Sykes," Loscar said. Jenson is the borough's operations and maintenance manager, and Sykes is Locar's borough assemblyman. "Somewhere along the line, someone should be able to do something!"

Mat-Su Borough Department of Public Works Director Terry Dolan said this time of year brings similar situations at various locations throughout the borough. Dolan said the borough is out in Loscar's area every spring doing what it can to make sure all area culverts and ditches are open and channeling water to the best of their ability. Although not a flood plain as far as insurance is concerned, Dolan noted that The Reindeer Farm is a 720-acre site of mostly flat land. The surrounding land is mountainous.

"We went out and cleared the culverts," Dolan said when contacted Wednesday evening. "There's a problem every spring along Cheechako. Whenever we get a rapid thaw, there's a problem."

The borough's road service agreement (RSA) stipulates that it has the responsibility of marking culverts and keeping them open. Dolan said the borough has installed additional culverts to help alleviate runoff problems. He said the Butte and other locations near Palmer, as well as areas along the Little Susitna River — communities such as Talkeetna, Willow and Meadow Lakes, experience runoff issues on an annual basis. Some of those come the with the first temperature increase, others when there is a heavy mountain snowpack melt. He said anyplace there are open, flat areas surrounded my mountainous terrain is a prime candidate.

Dolan said much of the problem goes back to the affected property developers. He said many problematic locations were plotted and or built back in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He said the Mat-Su was had a much smaller population and there were fewer officials to assure code enforcement. He said that changed in the 1990's when the Mat-Su became more involved in subdivision and road construction projects.

High temperatures are expected to remain in the mid-to-upper 40's for the next five days with a chance of rain on Monday. Lows will skirt with the freezing mark which should allow the snowmelt to continue.

Contact reporter Chris Ford at 252-2270 or chris.ford@frontiersman.com