Matanuska River levels drop, but are still high

BUTTE — The Matanuska River is running lower than it was last week, but the Mat-Su Borough hasn’t seen the last of seasonal high waters.

Rain, warm weather and melting snow have caused multiple Mat-Su Valley rivers, including the Knik and Matanuska, to run higher and faster than normal.

The most problematic spot last week along the Matanuska River was in the Maud Road area, where water had flooded a bike path. As of Monday, that issue had resolved itself, said Casey Cook, the Mat-Su Borough’s emergency manager.

“The standing water is gone and the water level (in the river) is down, I believe, as well,” Cook said. “We’ll just have to see what the new erosion pattern is going to be and come up with a new erosion plan for high water.”

Over the weekend, melting snowpack heading down the river caused two new incidents. The first was Saturday morning at Mile 2.5, Old Glenn Highway near Twin Peaks Drive on the south bank of the Knik River.

“We lost a shoulder and some guardrail, and maybe a foot or two of actual pavement, blacktop,” Cook said.

The state Department of Transportation was out there Monday afternoon fixing the road. Cook said crews had it down to one lane so traffic was moving slowly.

The second incident happened Saturday as well.

“Saturday night, Goat Creek jumped its banks and eroded a new path into a homeowner’s property and flooded his garage and crawlspace,” Cook said.

No one was injured. The creek is now back within its banks.

Cook said that erosion from the Matanuska continues to be a problem in the Sutton area, where homeowners have lost several feet of property this summer.

“They’ve lost quite a few more feet today and yesterday,” Cook said.

Other than that, Cook said, the only other river that seems to be threatening to make trouble is the Yentna River, though he has not received any reports of damage from high water there.

“That’s all that we’ve got in our neck of the woods,” Cook said.

The borough, he said, is working on long-term planning for the most consistently affected areas in Sutton and the Butte.

“The next time that the water comes up I’m assuming that it will do the same thing,” Cook explained. “We’re instituting a hazard mitigation task force to look at doing some hazard mitigation in the future on that area.”

The borough is also checking out national funding resources.

“We’re looking for some program and funding assistance through (the Natural Resource Conservation Service) to see if we can qualify for some mitigation funding or some repair work on the stuff up there,” he said.

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