Family abandons house to river

BUTTE — A family evacuated last week as the eroding Matanuska River flooded their yard and ate away at its banks said Monday that they’re moving on.

“We’ll never move back in there again,” said Chris Wenner by phone from a duplex he and his wife have rented. “It’s a loss. Our insurance company is stating that they’re going to pay for it, for the house.”

He said the river is chewing through a foot of his property every day; maybe two feet. It’s also moving into his neighbor’s yard. Melting ice and recent rains have caused the river to run harder and faster than normal this summer. In Sutton, KTUU reports that a junkyard operator also is losing ground to the river.

As for the Wenners, there are two main buildings on the property, a house and a cabin. The cabin is probably going to wind up in the water this summer.

“I suppose the house will still be standing until next summer, and then maybe next summer the house will go,” he said.

Wenner said he moved everything out of the house, utilities have been disconnected and fuel tanks have been carted away. He didn’t manage to pull out the septic tank, though. He said he’d think about rebuilding there, but the footprint of the house is really they only place it would fit. And the ground is so saturated now there’s no way anybody would let him put in a new septic tank.

As far as he can tell, Wenner said there wasn’t a whole lot the state or the borough wanted to do about it. He didn’t say he wanted the state to help him out, but did say he wondered why they aren’t more concerned about fuel and septic tanks winding up in the water.

“I think that that’s a really big issue to deal with in the future because there’s going to be a lot more homes going in (the water) and that’s a lot of fuel oil and septic going down the river,” he said.

By contrast, when water threatens the Glenn Highway, the state jumps into action.

“They’re forced to do something there,” Wenner said.

But even if he’s disappointed in the government’s response, Wenner said he’s profoundly grateful for his neighbors.

“It’s been a real eye-opener. I have a lot more faith in people than I think I ever have. A lot of people sacrificed their time for us and more than just that,” he said. “They were cutting down trees and getting the Bobcat stuck in the river. That’s dangerous stuff. But none of those guys looked at it that way, they just wanted to save the house.”

To say the least, these have been trying times for his family. On top of the move, his wife underwent surgery on a slipped disk while they were still in limbo. The disk was unrelated to the move, but surgery is nothing if not stressful.

“I don’t know how long she’s going to be out of work. I’m self-employed so it’s kind of hard to do anything myself,” he said.

There is a fund set up under his name at Wells Fargo if anyone wants to help. He said even with insurance he’s not sure how the next few months are going to shake out.

“We’re going to have to pay on our mortgage and we’re going to have to pay on our rent here at the same time,” Wenner said.

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