Talkeetna revetment to get $1.3 million in federal recovery funds

PALMER — Damage to the Talkeetna Revetment from the 2012 flood disaster will be repaired with $1.3 million in federal recovery funds. Casey Cook, Matanuska-Susitna Borough Emergency Manager, informed the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly last week.

"Working with our partners at the State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and FEMA, we have secured funding for the cost of repairs for the Talkeetna Revetment, and will be working with them to move the recovery efforts associated with this disaster toward a conclusion," Cook said. "The scope of these recovery efforts will bring the condition of the revetment back to the pre-disaster state. We appreciate the amount of work and effort from our partners as well as our Public Works, Operations & Maintenance and Finance staff who have worked tirelessly."

Borough Manager John Moosey said the successful application took nearly five years.

"We are pleased with this hard-earned outcome," said Mat-Su Borough Manager John Moosey. "Our team, led by Casey Cook, put in four years of undeterred effort where most others would have given up. Senator (Lisa) Murkowski was instrumental at making sure that we could make our case at every turn. The great work by her, I believe, was the difference on receiving the funding," Moosey said.

The revetment is 1,000 feet long beginning west of the end of Main Street running north on the riverbank toward the railroad bridge. "It used to be a surface you could drive on but today it's a jumble of rocks," said Pam Ness, a Borough code compliance officer and a floodplain manager.

The third week of September in 2012, South Central Alaska from Seward to Denali was inundated with heavy rains. The Talkeetna River reached four-feet over flood stage and within a foot of its record stage of 17.4 feet. Some rail and flight services in the region were interrupted as high winds compounded the rains. Flood damage was not limited to Talkeetna. The cities of Willow and Houston also reported substantial damage as creeks and rivers throughout the borough breeched their banks before slowly receding over the next several days.