It is our problem — these are our neighbors

What are we as a community going to do about flooding along the Matanuska River in Butte and Sutton?

Residents along the problematic section of river say it never stopped causing trouble since the flood of 2012. But lately erosion has eaten away at what few protections remain, and water has again started flowing onto people’s property. A handful of homeowners and a few businesses are again in jeopardy.

It’s a story we’ve told over and over. We’ve watched homes tumble into those churning waters. We’re on a first-name basis with homeowners there and the emergency managers who are working to help.

We imagine borough, state and federal officials are tired of us asking them what they are going to do about this slow-moving disaster as we are weary of asking. We think you are probably tired of reading about it, too.

Some problems are bigger than any single person or family can solve. Time and again we have seen our neighbors bend their backs to shoulder another’s load.

We are certain that if this problem was within the means of homeowners there to fix, they would have done so long ago. But in truth, a hungry braided river is bigger problem than the 91-year-old man in Sutton who homesteaded there in the 1950s can resolve singlehandedly. It’s bigger than any small businesses owner, or homeowner, in Butte or Sutton can battle on their own.

That’s where we come in. This is our problem because these are our neighbors.

Blaming folks for living along the river isn’t good enough. As humans, we have a responsibility to do more than watch as our neighbors drown. We’ve asked for borough, state and federal help, to no avail. Now it’s up to us as a community to toss that life preserver.

Perhaps our apathy as a community is also part of the reason why these families have been fighting for years for a hand saving their homes and businesses. How many homes must be washed away, how many families left with crushing financial debts because of our unwillingness to act, to help, to claim responsibility as a community.

We help each other; that’s the Alaskan way. We help any one who needs help; not just help folks who are deserving. We help because next time it could be us.

The Mat-Su Borough is on its third or fourth attempted solution now. We are hopeful that a federal program will be able to buy out affected homeowners. We also are hopeful that we as a community can craft guidelines for the properties there that will constitute a permanent solution.

We have talked to homeowners there who were unaware erosion would be a problem when they purchased a parcel along the Matanuska. They looked at the land when they bought it, saw hundreds of feet of trees between their homes and the river, and signed on the dotted line.

Perhaps people wishing to buy along that kind of channel-carving river should first have to sit through a lecture on the geology of braided rivers and what they are getting into?

Or maybe we should implement rules saying that land in these areas can only be sold to the local government, which will turn it into parkland?

Whatever other state or federal help may come, as a borough, we have a responsibility to put in place rules that help prevent other families from being in this predicament in the future.