More neighborhoods evacuated due to flooding

MAT-SU — Rising waters continued to cause evacuations and flooding in homes in Wasilla, Houston, Willow and Talkeetna today.

Just before 1 p.m. Thursday, the Mat-Su Borough’s deputy director of emergency services, Clint Vardeman said that the response to the flooding was proceeding, “as well as can be expected.”

“People are paying attention and they’re leaving when they need to,” he said. Property damage was obviously going to be extensive, he said, but, “luckily at this point we’re not seeing any danger to lives.”

Water overrunning roads in Caswell, Talkeetna, Willow and Wasilla kept emergency responders up all night Wednesday and into today.

Wednesday night borough officials recommended that residents along Willow Creek evacuate the area. Officials say Willow Creek Road and Deneki Road were compromised and fast-moving water may soon cut off access to Willow-Fishhook.

A handful of roads along Willow-Fishhook also are closed, including Creekside Drive, Johnson Road, Burrow Road, Friday Road, and Deneki Road.

Access problems also were the issue in Talkeetna, where Montana Creek eroded a dike along Montana Creek. Borough efforts to shore it up with big rocks — rip rap — didn’t end up being enough after the creek went around the restored the dike and over the road. Yoder was washed out, cutting off access to 30 homes.

But the Talkeetna River was an even bigger problem. Anchorage dive rescuers headed there while local firefighters knocked on doors, asking residents on the east side of town at the end of Beaver and Mercedes roads to evacuate.

Meanwhile, in Wasilla, homeowners learned that you don’t even have to live next to a big creek to get flooded. A flash flood on Marilyn Drive evacuated five homes. The homes sit in a bowl where water was funneled from surrounding areas and were underwater as of Thursday.

A borough update at 9:45 a.m. added Shorty and Welch Roads to the list of roads closed.

Hatcher Pass Road was washed out at Mile 26 at Shirley Creek. Oilwell Road is closed at Miles 5, 8, 10 and 14. There’s also a 10-foot gap in the road where a culvert was washed out at mile 5.4.

Rockslides were reported on the Glenn Highway in the Chickaloon area between miles 71 and 79 of the highway. A big slide at Mile 71 was clear as of the update.

The Little Susitna River had also overrun its banks in the Enchanted Forest subdivision in Houston. The borough was sending sandbags.

Len Anderson, a local resident, the first to see the Little Su run into his yard and into his home, said he was staying put. He’d moved everything off the bottom floor of his house and joked that as a man who grew up along the Mississippi he was used to this sort of thing.

Across the borough thousands of people were without power for part of the day Wednesday after high winds tossed trees into power lines around the Matanuska Electric Association service area.

After Wednesday morning’s first widespread outage was restored, MEA spokeswoman Suzie Deuser said trees in the lines had been removed and power restored. MEA used its Facebook page to update customers about outages throughout the day.

Power was more stable Thursday after the winds died down, which helped to kept trees out of the power lines.

Flooding of low-lying areas along the Yentna River is also likely today, according to the weather service.

Borough emergency responders went door to door in Talkeetna urging people on Beaver and Mercedes roads to evacuate.

Jon Owen, the City of Palmer’s director of emergency services, said that city has a wary eye on the Matanuska River but flooding problems there have mainly been outside of town this summer. Still, they’re clearing out culverts and making sure problems don’t start.

Bill Gamble, chief of the West Lakes Fire Department who is helping to run the borough’s Emergency Operations Center, said that reports from Butte indicate the ground is so thoroughly saturated trees are popping out of the ground, roots and all. The worry is of potential mudslides there.

The borough continues its 24-hour watch and response in the Emergency Operations Center.

The Red Cross has established shelters at the Menard Sports Complex, Willow Community Center and Upper Susitna Senior Center.

To report a power outage in the Valley call 746-7697, or, in Eagle River call 696-7697.

Updates are posted to the Mat-Su Borough's Facebook page at facebook.com/home.php?#!/MatSuBorough.