Emergency deadline nears

SUTTON — Though the cabin went in probably a month ago, the water has recently receded enough to get a good view of the Blubaugh home that went into the Matanuska River.

“It’s just kind of sitting out there in the middle of the gravel bar and attracting crows and birds,” said Casey Cook, the Mat-Su Borough’s emergency manager. “The water finally went down enough to where you can see it all, and it’s just kind of resting there.”

The Blubaugh home had been half gone since erosion undercut part of the bank behind it two summers ago. The rains that brought every major Valley river to floodstage this summer finally finished the job.

Cook said it’s a good reminder that people need to get their applications in to the state for disaster relief.

“Twenty-one Valley households are being housed from the Valley and 141 households have reported damages to their homes,” he said.

The borough is pretty sure there’s more damage out there. Early assessments pegged the number of damaged properties at 823, with an additional 14 destroyed.

There’s only a month left to make a claim and it doesn’t have to be a damaged home. The program applies to things like leech fields and septic tanks that were damaged as well.

“We’re starting to get a bunch of calls on septic systems and water table levels getting into their septic levels,” Cook said.

Some people in that situation, he said, have already had their tanks pumped two or three times.

“And it doesn’t do any good because it just fills right back up with water.”

Cook said that, with enough of a paper trail, the state will reimburse a homeowner for those costs.

“It’s probably not going to cover regular maintenance septic pumping, but if they can show that it was full of water and they pumped it and then it immediately filled back up with water,” he said. “As long as there’s a paper trail documentation that they’ve pumped it several times and it continues to fill back up with water they can apply.”

To make an application, call (855) 445-7131. Deadline is Nov. 20. Gather up photos and dates of damage and proof you own the place. The borough is footing the bill for water tests. Call 861-7491 to get one. There’s a video on the borough website explaining the process.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.