Weekend storm caused minor Valley flooding

WASILLA — Call it the Mat-Su Meltdown. Or perhaps the unfrozen February. Whatever its name, the warm, wet weather that’s been the hallmark of this winter that wasn’t continued to cause havoc and headaches over the weekend when an icy, rainy storm caused minor flooding in parts of the Valley.

“Sunday around noon with all the rain and frozen ice we had, the water just didn’t have anywhere to go,” said Casey Cook, emergency manager for the Mat-Su Borough.

Cook said flooding was mainly confined to the Bodenburg Butte area, where clogged and frozen culverts conspired with frozen ground to create vast areas of standing water. He said crews from the borough, Butte Fire Department and the Alaska Department of Transportation spent most of Sunday clearing culverts, handing out sandbags and working to get the water moving away from neighborhoods.

The flooding was caused by a warm, wet winter storm that dropped heavy snow at higher elevations but fell mostly as freezing rain in the lower parts of the Valley. The storm wreaked havoc on drivers Sunday, prompting a series of warnings from DOT and Anchorage Police for motorists to stay off the ice-slicked roads.

Most of the precipitation came in the form of rain in the Butte area. By Tuesday, there were still some areas of standing water in the sprawling, low-lying community nestled between the Matanuska and Knik rivers, along with sections of glaciated ice alongside roadways. But for now, the flooding seems to have been kept to a minimum.

“Nobody is reporting any big damage to their homes,” Cook said.

But with this winter’s unpredictable weather, Cook said officials aren’t taking many chances.

“We’re going to continue to monitor it,” he said.

Although Mother Nature doesn’t seem to want to offer much help, Cook said there are ways the public can pitch in to help mitigate future flooding. The best and easiest way to keep the water flowing, Cook said, is to keep the culverts clear.

“The homeowners can help a lot just by keeping ditches clear,” he said.

That means watching for floating debris and reporting to borough or state officials if a culvert is damaged or blocked.

“If you back over a culvert and squash it, please call DOT or public works,” he said.

There’s also a more hands-on opportunity to help out this weekend. Starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, the community is invited to stop by the Butte fire station on the Old Glenn Highway to help bolster the area’s sandbag supply.

“If people want to come out and help fill sandbags, we’re getting a little low in the Butte area,” Cook said.

The station is located at 3355 S. Old Glenn Highway, near the blinking stoplight in “downtown” Butte.

Cook said the hope is that the weather will return to normal and the sandbags won’t be needed. But in a winter like this, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“It’s just one of those quirks of our Alaska winters,” he said.