Butte residents launch fight against erosion, flooding

BUTTE — Residents along a strip of Glenn Highway between Mile 13 and Mile 15 took matters into their own hands earlier this week.

Trapped between the encroaching floodwaters of the Matanuska River and government neglect of a nearby dike they say will prevent the water from crossing the Glenn Highway and damaging their homes, they’ve launched an effort to repair the dike using locally provided equipment and volunteers, some of whom were local and others who travelled some distance to help. A crowd-sourced effort to fund their efforts, lead by outspoken borough critic Pat Huddleson was underway Friday — after receiving a Mat-Su Borough permit — with machinery putting bags of gravel in place to block the dike, the first of three planned phases to deal with the overgrown earthworks that line their stretch of the roaring Matanuska River.

Project “Plug The Hole,” which is the name Huddleson gave the project, is expected to cost local volunteers about $8,000, and is designed as a stopgap measure until federal funding becomes available for a buyout, which she anticipated in fall 2015. Huddleson estimated her land and business — her husband Dan Huddleson operates a towing business on the property — are worth $1.5 million. Until money arrives, the stopgap will have to do, Huddleson said.

“We’re just gonna’ keep going, with the borough’s blessing,” she said.

Nor are the efforts designed to protect only the residents of Butte in the two-mile stretch of Old Glenn Highway which has faced repeated flood threats since 2012. Huddleson said she was motivated in part by a recurring nightmare.

“I can see it in my dreams,” she said. “All I can think about is Amir’s pond. If that crests, it has millions of gallons of water in it.”

The concrete floor of Huddleson’s house was bone dry Friday, though canned goods had been stacked on top of tables.

Neighbor Amir Lena has been fighting to maintain his property since the water began ponding behind his house July 5.

“People have to understand,” Huddleson added. “It’s just so sad. I live it, I breathe it 24-7. We need help.”

Butte voters rejected an initiative to have their community included in a proposed flood service area, in part because it was too much expenditure for too little benefit, Huddleson said. She was among the initiative’s most vocal opponents.

“I vocalized that to death,” she said. “If we do the service area, we have to go into debt.”

The effort started as a posting in a group on Facebook, though organizers were looking to move onto the popular fundraising website GoFundMe.com Saturday afternoon. The Facebook effort had drawn $1,200 in contributions from four donors, five volunteers, and the occasional joke Saturday afternoon.

“God created this, and man screwed it up,” Huddleson said at one point.

“Oh, sure, blame the men,” quipped volunteer Mike Hettersheid.

The dike in question was constructed, along with a series of other dikes, in 1986. Flooding along the Mat has been a chronic issue dating back to at least 1971, when 200 people were left homeless by floods. Repeated incursions during both the traditional high-water spring and summer months, as well as flooding during the winter months caused by ice damming, continue to erode property and threaten houses.

Residents of Butte and nearby Sutton tend to cite specific government construction projects — like the dike — either poorly maintained or constructed through the years as the cause of recent flooding. Borough officials say the root cause of the flooding is beyond their control, that it is the result of natural long-term processes it would unfeasible to contain. The most recent set of woes began in 2012, when officials say the glacier-and-creek-fed Mat started carving a new channel.

Improvised projects to protect property were fine, as long as organizers received prior approval, said borough emergency manager Casey Cook.

“As long as they go in and get it approved by the flood plain manager,” he said. “I can’t recommend building new dikes. It’s kind of a Catch-22 there again.”

Large-scale projects could solve the problem, but they would also alter the river beyond recognition, Cook said.

“We could turn it into the LA river, and line the thing with concrete from the glacier on down,” he said. “It’s just going to keep moving back and forth.”

“If folks are going in and altering the flow of the river, especially if it’s flooding their neighbor’s property, I can’t recommend that,” Cook added.

He was referring to citations issued to Bruce Derstine, a local resident cited multiple times for those options by borough ordinance enforcement officer Pamela Ness. One citation came with a $500 fine and a mandatory court appearance, set for Aug. 14.

Derstine said he had received six citations in all. Two citations dated to sandbagging for which he wasn’t present on his property in January, which was conducted by the Butte Fire Department, he said. He faces a court date at 3 p.m. Monday for the earlier incident.

“I actually gave them the sandbags back to use this year,” Derstine said. The citations charge Derstine with “altering the natural floodplain,” according to photocopies of the citations provided to the Frontiersman.

Derstine is just trying to protect his property, and that the charge of altering the river’s direction isn’t true.

“The river is actually flowing from my neighbor’s property onto mine,” he said. “Their property is already flooded.”

Derstine plans to leave the sandbags up through the winter in order to prevent a repeat of the January ice-related flooding.

The National Weather Service had revised its forecast downward for water levels for the Mat, measured at Old Glenn Highway. According to weather service figures, the Mat has not reached flood stage during the latest high water event. Flood stage is defined as at least 9.5 feet deep at the bridge, according to the weather service website.

Readers wishing to contribute money to the cause can call 745-7770. Contributions can also be made to account #133781 at the Mat-Su Valley Federal Credit Union in the name of Dan and Pat Huddleson.

Sandbags are available from the Palmer Volunteer Fire Department.

The Red Cross is operating a shelter out of the Palmer Senior Center for those residents of 13-15 mile affected by the voluntary evacuation order in Butte.