Waters begin receding; governor declares disaster

MAT-SU — High waters began receding Saturday after flooding along rivers and streams in the Mat-Su Borough earlier this past week forced hundreds of residents from the Butte to Wasilla, Houston, Willow and Talkeetna to evacuate to safer environs.

Wind and rains in the Mat-Su started Sept. 15 and the first flood warning for streams and rivers that drain the Talkeetna Mountains was issued Sept 16. The rains continued throughout the week, but most water levels in the Valley had crested by Saturday morning.

Wednesday, winds tossed trees into power lines and caused a series of outages that left some Matanuska Electric Association customers without power for more than a day. Winds subsided, but the rain didn’t let up until late Thursday.

The worst of the water came on Friday when Mat-Su Borough Emergency Services called for a mandatory evacuation of Talkeetna from noon to 2 p.m.

Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent Deena Paramo said she was at Willow Elementary surveying flooding in that area when the call to evacuate Talkeetna Elementary School came in.

Bus drivers from Bunker and Bunker transported students to Susitna Valley High School for pickup by their parents after water began creeping up Main Street toward the heart of the historic town. Paramo said the evacuation went smoothly and all the students were back with their families by 1:30 p.m.

“It’s something we practice, but hope we never have to do,” Paramo said.

By 3:30 p.m., Friday, more than a third of Talkeetna was experiencing some form of flooding, according to a Mat-Su Borough spokesperson.

“Right now, approximately 35 percent of Talkeetna has some type of water,” said Mat-Su Borough spokeswoman Mary Brodigan.

Houston Mayor Virgie Thompson said she was still writing her letter asking Gov. Sean Parnell to declare an emergency for the city of Houston when she heard the governor announce on the news that he’d made a verbal declaration of a state disaster for the Mat-Su and Kenai Peninsula boroughs, as well as other impacted areas.

“There is no way the city can bring all this back up to where it needs to be by itself,” Thompson said. “It’s pretty expensive trying to put roads back together.”

The Talkeetna and Susitna rivers overran their banks Thursday afternoon, but water levels overnight Friday began to recede.

Rain resumed Friday afternoon, but faded Saturday morning. Winds returned to the core area Saturday, too.

In a separate incident, East Talkeetna flooded when water overran a riprap dyke, the borough reports.

Although flooding was widespread along Valley rivers and streams, Paramo said only about 100 students couldn’t get through the high water to get to school. She said the district contacted those families and made sure parents and students knew it was OK to miss school due to the flooding, and that they would be given an opportunity to make up their work.

Several places along the Parks Highway from Wasilla to the Talkeetna Spur had water encroaching into traffic lanes Friday. Houston Fire Department Capt. Christian Hartley said at one point Friday afternoon the Department of Transportation had considered closing the northbound lane of the Parks.

Willow Creek also took out the bridge on Shirley Towne Road Friday. The borough posted pictures to its Facebook page.

In Houston, several roads were closed, including King Arthur Drive at the Parks. Mayor Thompson said many side streets also flooded, as well as parts of the Enchanted Forest Subdivision, which had to be evacuated.

Hartley said of the 50 people contacted about evacuation, only six decided to wait out the water in their homes.

“All of those were on high ground in their neighborhoods,” Hartley said.

Meanwhile in the Butte Friday, the Matanuska River overran Maud Road, flooding numerous downstream homes and businesses between the Old Glenn Highway and the river.

“There is a DOT project that is taking place. It is working, it is slowing down the water to the Old Glenn,” Brodigan said.

The borough has also “barricaded the Matanuska River Bridge approaches,” he said. “We had people trying to cross in kayaks and wet suits. That was a potential disaster so we’ve had to have (troopers) I believe enforcing that.”

Residents there were evacuating Friday morning and afternoon.

“I just moved here from California in April,” Jordan Dewsnup said after helping trailer a four-wheeler driven out from behind his apartment building. His building is up on a little patch of slightly higher ground than the neighboring buildings.

He and his family and roommates left Thursday, and came back Friday to grab valuables and a change of clothes. Asked if he was worried, he said no.

“You can’t stress about it. You just got to wait it out,” Dewsnup said.

In Wasilla, responders went door-to-door in the Winding Brook Estates subdivision urging residents to evacuate due to flooding from Wasilla Creek. Water is running over Trunk Road north of Bogard Road.

Wasilla city officials also report they have been monitoring the Lake Lucille Dam. The aging wooden dam was failing last year when the state and city temporarily shored it up and installed gabions to handle the lake’s overflow.

The Legislature approved $500,000 during its last session to replace the dam, but preparations are still ongoing to do that, said Archie Giddings, the city’s public works director.

“We’re working through the permits now,” he said, adding that without taking some emergency action last summer, the dam may not have withstood this past week’s flooding.

“It would be struggling,” Giddings said. “I don’t know if it would’ve survived this without those gabions the state helped us put in last year. They’re carrying the load there now.”

For information about flood conditions in your area, visit matsugov.us.

Managing Editor Heather A. Rezs and reporters Andrew Wellner and Greg Johnson contributed to this report.

For locals who may have been displaced by recent floods, the American Red Cross has set up several emergency shelters in the Mat-Su Borough:

• Willow Community Center on the Parks Highway in Willow has a capacity to serve 87 people.

• Upper Susitna Senior Center — 16463 Helena Dr., Talkeetna — has a capacity to serve 62 people.

• Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center — 1001 S. Mack Dr., Wasilla — has a capacity to serve 1,000 people.