Flood drowns Valley

August 20, 2006

By Michael Rovito

Frontiersman

Kenneth Flewelling slowly eased the front wheels of his red Ford truck in the flood waters coming off Willow Creek Saturday, trying to make it back to his home to gauge damage from the swollen creek.

With water above the bumper, Flewelling jammed the throttle to the ground and emerged on the other side to a soaked yard and awaiting neighbors.

&#8220It's not too bad,” Flewelling said after stepping out of his truck. &#8220At least we're all alive.”

As flood waters steadily rose over the past few days, many residents were able to get out and head for area shelters. Some people, however, were caught by surprise, as Willow Creek breached its banks during the early hours Saturday morning, sending homeowners scrambling for higher ground.

The Flewellings, along with neighbor Steve Hicks, stood on a porch overlooking the swollen Wasilla Creek Saturday afternoon, pointing to where a single lane-bridge that used to connect them to their neighbor's property washed away. The bridge now sits pinned under a tree downstream.

The two families considered themselves lucky, none of their belongings or homes were washed away in the torrent of water that came through under cover of darkness.

As Hicks walked through his property, which looked like more a lake than a back yard, he said the water had gone down about 18 inches in the previous 12 hours. Hicks left his home between 5:30 and 6 a.m. Saturday morning as nearly four feet of water lapped at his front door, and headed for the Willow Community Center.

By Saturday afternoon, that center, set up by the Red Cross, was nearly vacant, most of the temporary tenants making their way home.

Jerry Ogsted was hanging around, though, the path back to his home near the confluence of Gray's Creek and the Susitna River off the Parks Highway at Mile 80 unreachable.

&#8220It was rising about a foot an hour,” Ogsted said.

He and his wife managed to get their truck and camper out, but ended up swimming through the flood waters Saturday morning after going back to their house to move their belongings to the second floor.

Ogsted, who moved from Longview, Wash., to Alaska June 1, said it took four to five hours just to warm up from the swim.

Even more heartbreaking for the family was the fear that their new cabin, completed just two weeks ago, would be severely damaged upon their return. Or worse yet, washed downstream.

Ogsted's neighbor, John Allison, said by phone Saturday that the level of flooding on the Susitna River is the worst he's seen in years, but he plans to take a raft to Ogsted's property to check out the damage.

&#8220They called the last one the hundred-year flood,” Allison said, referring to the 1986 flood of the Susitna River. &#8220This must be the 500-year flood.”

Allison's wife, Liz, said an assortment of items have been floating down the swift-moving river.

&#8220We're watching big old trees going by, and picnic tables are floating by,” she said.

John Allison said he's not going to leave his house, because he has about eight feet to go until the water reaches his front door. But he realizes the scope of the flood, expressing his sympathy to other people whose houses haven't been so lucky.

Towns from Talkeetna to Sutton have been affected by the flooding, the result of heavy rains in the Talkeetna Mountains, according to the National Weather Service.

&#8220This is something else here,” Allison said. &#8220What we're having here has never been seen before with the naked eye.”

Contact Michael Rovito at

352-2252 or michael.rovito@

frontiersman.com