Interior Alaska begins to assess damage, start recovery after near-record flooding
Gov. Palin to visit Fairbanks today, sign disaster declaration
Originally published Sunday, August 3, 2008 at 1:53 p.m.
Updated Monday, August 4, 2008 at 12:00 a.m.
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2008 Fairbanks Flood
Here are some scenes of the flooding in the Fairbanks and Nenana areas. If you have pictures of the flooding, send them to internet@newsminer.com and we'll post them online.
FAIRBANKS — River levels continued to fall Sunday, leading emergency managers in Fairbanks to talk of closing a flood-operations center they’ve used to respond to intense flooding.
Gov. Sarah Palin is expected travel to Fairbanks today to sign a disaster declaration, following a similar move by local officials last week.
The flooding, which has slammed towns and neighborhoods across Interior Alaska, followed westward along the Tanana River as last week progressed. The Red Cross today is expanding its shelter operations to the town of Nenana, where an overflowing Tanana soaked land up to two miles from its banks.
But word that weather forecasters expect only light rain tonight and Tuesday could relieve worries facing owners of the estimated 300 to 500 homes impacted by the floods. Ed Plumb, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, said a small weather system today is expected to carry only about a half of an inch of rain to Fairbanks — a fraction of the heavy rainfall seen a week ago and not enough to aggravate lingering floodwaters.
“The worst is over,” Plumb said.
Better weather this weekend gave residents in and around Fairbanks and Salcha a chance to recover from a stretch of rainfall that, in a matter of days, inundated Fairbanks with a quarter of its average annual precipitation. The Alaska Railroad is repairing track that washed out this weekend and tentatively plans to resume passenger service north of Denali National Park and Preserve late Tuesday afternoon after suspending train traffic last week.
Extensive flooding in Nenana, where a bulging Tanana River crested Saturday, forced some from their homes. Greg Williams, a statewide chairman of emergency services for the Red Cross, said late Sunday morning that he’d heard a few dozen Nenana residents could be living at a temporary shelter in town.
“There’s water everywhere,” Williams said by phone from Nenana.
The Red Cross established a new shelter Sunday evening on the south side of the town’s airport and will operate with a staff of four, Williams said.
Borough spokeswoman Sallie Stuvek said emergency managers were also watching the Moose Creek neighborhood near North Pole, where a handful of homeowners reported groundwater had flooded their basements or crawlspaces Saturday and Sunday.
Public officials have made drinking water available at the Salcha fairgrounds and near the Chena campground on Chena Pump Road. The borough also said water-testing sample kits are expected to arrive this week and will be handed out to people living in flooded areas once water levels fall further.
Stuvek stressed that homeowners hit by flood waters should photograph and document the damage. Insurance companies will likely ask for documentation, she said.
“The state does have a program (that could carry) additional reimbursement possibilities,” she said, and state officials would require documentation as well.
Stuvek said the borough will continue to staff its flood hot line (459-1213) through today and possibly beyond.
Community Discussion
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Creiglist - Free water for dry-cabin
http://anchorage.craigslist.org/zip/7789...
IUR I bet it depends on how far away you are from the flooding. I live north of town in the hills and there was never any standing water above/around where my septic is buried so I'm not worried about it at all.
If you called any of the septic installation companies they may be able to tell you, or they could point you in the right direction.
Here is a link to the Alaska DEC website and the Flood pamphlet.
www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/perp/heat/hhot_... - 2007-08-23
Imusuallyright,
Our leech field is not leeching. Easy to tell if you just take the caps off and look in the pipes around the system. If the clean outs all have water standing in them, then you need to get it pumped.
due to heavy rain in the Tannana Valley ground water levels has risen to just a few feet below the surface, any one with a septic tank will experance slow drainging till the water levels come down but normaly your water wont back up into your house because your home is well above the water level in the ground.
also by the way if you do pump the water out it wont do anthing but fill up again with water, the pumping companys only remove the solid waste from the bottom up your septic tank.
How about talking about the impact on wells.
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