Gov. Mike Dunleavy and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski toured water-damaged homes on Killewich Drive and Emily Way on Wednesday afternoon to witness flood impacts from the record-breaking glacial outburst of Suicide Basin.
The Mendenhall River crested at 15.99 feet shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday, exceeding last year’s previous high by more than a foot, according to the National Weather Service Juneau.
The river flooded more than 100 homes, including neighborhoods near Riverside Drive that were unaffected last year.
Dunleavy declared the Mendenhall River flood a disaster on Tuesday. He said that allows for $22,000 of residential assistance per home and if federal assistance gets approved, it will offer $45,000.
“But what it also does for the state, it allows us to expedite things through the procurement process, potentially, if there’s any damage to the state property here, but also assist with the city and clean-up and also what’s going to be deposited at the dumps,” Dunleavy said in an interview during the tour. “We’re working with our Department of Environmental Conservation on this and other state agencies as well.”
Applications for the State of Alaska Individual Assistance will be open through Oct. 9.
No deaths or major injuries were reported, although some trapped by the water had to be rescued by the Juneau Police Department and Capital City Fire/Rescue. Others evacuated from their homes once the water began surging in.
“So the question is going to be how do you mitigate and control a release up there so that you’re not having to deal with folks worrying about every year whether this is going to happen constantly?” Dunleavy said. “And so I think that’s going to be major discussion. So immediately, no loss of life, no injuries, help people get back on their feet, get rid of some of the debris, make sure there’s no bureaucratic hassle with that. And then concurrently we’ll have the discussions, which will be mid- and long-term.”
Dunleavy and Murkowski walked down sunny streets early Wednesday afternoon where many residents were still pumping water and laying their belongings out to dry. Murkowski recalled visiting Juneau after last August’s jökulhlaup when homes fell into the Mendenhall River.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski walks past a home on Killewich Drive with damaged items left outside in the sun on Wednesday. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
“Seeing the now frequency two years back-to-back, where you have had full releases, it takes us from where we were last year, which was, what more do we need to be doing to monitor, to actually, can we avoid this?” she said.
Murkowski said she visited Suicide Basin this past weekend and has been following along with NWSJ for hour-by-hour updates. She serves as the ranking member of the senate’s Interior-Environment Subcommittee ranking member, which focuses on natural disasters.
Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon guided Dunleavy and Murkowski to flooded homes on Wednesday. She said the city is still assessing the full extent of the damage.
“Nobody had to stay at the shelter last night,” she said. “We had 43 people at the shelter the night before and some were showing up in their pajamas soaking wet because it happened so fast.”
The city has posted a list of resources for those impacted by the flood.
State Sen. Jesse Kiehl also joined the neighborhood tour. He said his goal was to receive a debriefing on the extent of the damage and speak with affected residents.
“I’m trying to get information out to people who live here,” Kiehl said. “I’m talking to the governor about whether they need additional legislation or resources out of the legislature. There may be some additional legislation we need next year.”
Kiehl introduced a bill during the past legislative session to double state disaster assistance which unanimously passed the Senate, but failed to pass the House. A provision in that bill expanding assistance eligibility for people living in multi-residential buildings such as condominiums did pass as part of another bill that is on its way to the governor’s desk.
“I think we need to talk seriously about the executive branch’s ability to respond,” Kiehl said. “There’s a cap on the response right now before they come back to the Legislature. We’re not gonna have a special session for this, right? So do we have the flexibility for a governor, any governor, to do what they need to do, to respond?”
Lisa Wallace, a resident of Emily Way, shared her story with Dunleavy and Murkowski. She recalled waking up at 3 a.m. to her wet cat on top of her, who she said had recovered since.
“There was two feet of water in my house and it kept coming up,” she said.
Dan Woods, operations chief for the public safety crews of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, told the visiting officials the tribe has been helping drain water from homes since Tuesday morning.
“So currently we’re helping folks get water out of their crawl spaces, out of their homes,” he said. “We’re helping them move all the water damaged stuff from the inside to the outside. Like, if it’s trash, it’s being put by the street to be picked up. Those are our phase one goals, and as that happens, then we’ll go further and help them take care of the sheetrock installation, the things that are going to mold and the long-term problems.”
Woods said as of Wednesday afternoon they had helped 25 homes. They prioritized elders first and then Emily Way.
Just around the time Dunleavy, Murkowski, Kiehl, Weldon and City Manager Katie Koester were departing from Emily Way, a group from the U.S. Coast Guard was arriving to grill burgers for the neighborhood.
“We’re pumping out all the crawl spaces here and then just ripping apart carpet, getting the houses ready to be aired out as much as they can right now,” Bryce Yturbe, a marine casualty investigator with the Coast Guard, said.
He said they have members stationed who live on Meander Way. Coast Guard “work parties” started pumping water there Tuesday and are continuing to help various neighborhoods along Riverside Drive.
“I didn’t even know what to hope,” Renee Culp, a resident of Emily Way, said. “I haven’t had a chance to even think really. And whatever I might have hoped is far exceeded. Our tribe is amazing, our community, our government, our local government, our state government. There’s not been a moment that I haven’t felt reassured.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski embraces Renee Culp, a resident living on Emily Way, and Culp’s friend Jamiann Hasselquist who is assisting with cleaning and drying her home on Wednesday. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
“They’re with us,” she said shortly after embracing Murkowski. “It is so Alaska. We love our independence and also we are gonna come together.”
Neil Stichert, an Emily Way resident of 22 years, said he checked the NWSJ forecast every 45 minutes, waiting for the river to crest. He heard the water come and said it filled their backyard within minutes.
He said his family left for the city’s shelter at Floyd Dryden Middle School with evacuation bags and their dog around 1:45 a.m. They were pushing water down Sharon Street as they drove to safety. Stichert walked back in his waders through the waist-deep water to watch the river rise. He wanted to know what would happen to his house.
Stichert sat in his boat in the driveway while chatting with his neighbor perched on a roof.
He said he was lucky because the water was below the threshold of his doors and didn’t enter the inside of his house, although it did swamp his garage. For many on Emily Way, the water flooded the entirety of their first floors.
“This isn’t a cleanup,” Stichert said. “This is literally saving homes from the inside out. We have to get them dried and then what do we do with the community a year from now?”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.
Dustin McCoy, a secretary for the U.S. Coast Guard in Southeast Alaska, gives a burger to Emily Way resident Neil Stichert on Wednesday. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Ken Loken, like others on Emily Way, was woken up by water flooding into his house early Tuesday morning. (Photo courtesy of Ken Loken)
