Rural Update – Report from the Flood Zone
1 06 2009I just got a report from Mudflatter AK Independent who was on the ground in Eagle, and other villages recently. Thanks for keeping us posted.
Hope, who delivered a truckload of supplies to Eagle yesterday is back home and safe. She says she’s taken lots of pictures, and will be providing a writeup in the next couple of days. Many thanks to all who contributed to that effort, or to any of the other relief efforts that have been ongoing.
Thanks AK Independent!
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By AK Independent
The damage in Eagle was pervasive. The good news is that there is a lot of response. While there I saw representatives from: State of Alaska (DOT and Dept of Public Safety), Tanana Chiefs Conference, Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, USGS, and heard that the Corps of Engineers had just been there as well. Everyone was coordinating as much as possible in order to avoid replicating each other’s work.
I spoke to as many affected residents as I could but this proved to be difficult. Many of the residents of Eagle Village had gone to stay with family elsewhere until access to the village could be restored and residents of Eagle (city) were busy working on cleanup. The DOT was still working on the road to Eagle Village when we were there. This picture is of an 18-wheeler upside down in the ice covering the road.
Access to Front Street was impossible as it was still covered by house-sized pieces of ice. This was made all the more amazing by residents telling me that the ice had reduced by 2/3 since the initial flood. The flooding was much more pervasive than first thought. Their Fire Hall is about 1/2 mile from the river and there was a water mark inside the building that was about 8 feet high.
There were many sad stories from the residents. One in particular involved a couple that owns a lodge about 12 miles downriver and they were flooded twice (they were in the Anchorage Daily News story that pictured their dogs). The ice jammed at the bend upriver of them, causing the water to flood around the jam. This not only flooded them but when the jam broke the ice came at them. Then, the ice jammed at the next bend in the river and they were flooded a second time. They said that the ice wall was up to 50 feet high. This second time was pretty bad because when that jam broke they described a “toilet bowl” effect where the water went down very quickly. They have 24 dogs (they do sled dog tours in the winter). One canoe holding 3 dogs tipped in the rushing waters and they had to cut the dogs’ leads. Two of the dogs made their way back but one was lost. They are in pretty bad shape. They harvest chum for dog food and both of their fish wheels were destroyed. There’s no way that they can afford to feed the dogs using only store-bought dog food. They were anxious to get back and rebuild so that they could still have guests this winter.
I think some of the residents were getting “story fatigue,” in that they’d spoken to so many state and federal agencies by this point that they were tired of telling the same story over and over. That being said, they were all very gracious considering their circumstances. Unfortunately, I had very limited time there since I had other work to do there besides the interviews and had other villages to get to. One story that I heard over and over was residents’ worries about health and subsistence. Every village that I visited had some amount of fuel and sewage spillage. The residents were worried about the health effects from the spillage, but they had also been told that the State was worried about the effects to fish and wildlife stocks.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:51 AM
Thank you for your report. Seeing more pictures is mind boggling.
June 1st, 2009 at 11:02 AM
OMG. Unbelievable. I ordered dog food to be sent; I hope someone will let us know if more is needed, and provide stores/phone numbers again- who knows where I put that info.
Warm hugs and best wishes to such hardy souls-
June 1st, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Wow, those photos are astonishing. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must look like in person…
June 1st, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Amazing… and when that ice finally melts -mud. UGH.
Big rebuilding job there… hope all those Washington Boys brought some food, too
(and I don’t mean COOKIES!)
June 1st, 2009 at 12:25 PM
What a nightmare, hope these people can get their lives back together quickly and am glad they are getting professional help. Our best wishes are with them.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Powerful pictures. Is that a wall I see peeking out from under all that ice?
June 1st, 2009 at 12:50 PM
http://eaglefloodinfo.wikispaces.com
June 1st, 2009 at 1:07 PM
I feel a bit inadequate…sorrry I can’t do more to help.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:15 PM
oh, and now the state is concerned about the fish and wildlife??? Then what about Pebble Mine?
June 1st, 2009 at 1:34 PM
@Greytdog:
The AK state government is only concerned about fish and wildlife when they have an opportunity to limit access by villagers- to protect commercial interests and big game hunters.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:39 PM
I live in the Detroit area and thought WE have it “bad”. Our news today couldn’t be more devastating to our usually hearty bunch of soldiers who take hit after hit after HIT in the gut and yet go on.
Truly, I don’t know how many more hits to the gut we can take.
We “expected” GM’s bankruptcy, but not in numbers like 200K MORE unemployed workers in our beautiful and industrious state.
That said, my heart absolutely aches for for your residents experiencing such seemingly insurmountable odds.
I truly ache. My tummy hurts and I cry for all. In Deroit and AK equally.
Sadly, I can’t even help my own, let alone others. I’ve been laid off from an auto supplier since September.
I donated to the HOPE mission, and that was out of my need, not my excess. Excess was gone long ago.
Today, I donate of my need to my own state. We, too, are suffering without reprieve, but I am in solace believing that OUR PRESIDENT will make sure no American suffers tragedy like yours without aid.
I HAVE to believe. It’s all we have going for us right now.
So sadly, I can’t donate more for AK when MI is suffering seemingly unsurmountable obstacles ourselves. We have children living in cars and going to school with empty tummies. If I can buy one bowl of cereal and a glass of juice, it matters. It really does.
We BUILT this country on manufacturing products that Americans wanted.
Funny how many Americans chose to buy elsewhere.
Please, if you are in the market for a vehicle, please, buy AMERICAN. We have product that shines long after the sale.
We want to WORK for what you choose to buy.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Please do keep letting us know of the need and addresses or accounts where we can help.
I have sent this information out to family and friends throughout the states to ask if they can do even a little.
Thanks for the update on pictures and what it is STILL like.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Maybe Sarah will bring these people a plate of cookies?
June 1st, 2009 at 4:57 PM
Where is Michigan’s plate of cookies?
They are nowhere to be found. Want to know WHY?
OK! I’ll tell you!
It’s because OUR Gov is NOT trying to figure her “best angle” for future elections.
It’s because OUR Gov is FULLY FOCUSED on getting our state to RIGHT without regard for her own personal goals.
SP could learn a LOT from MY Gov!!!!
June 1st, 2009 at 6:20 PM
Thank you for the report, AK Independant. It looks like a lot more work (and patience) will be needed.
June 1st, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Those pictures are almost other-worldly, like a giant was tossing ice boulders everywhere. My heart goes out to all the families who have to pick up the pieces (literally and figuratively) after this disaster.
Samper– It makes me mad that so many hard-working people like you have to suffer for what I see as the greediness and shortsightedness of car companies’ CEOs and other top management. They have consistently chosen to manufacture the cars that make them the most money in the short term (like SUVs), while ignoring the issues of reliability (especially over the long term) and fuel economy. Any idiot could have seen that gas prices would shoot up sooner or later, and more and more people wanted a “greener” vehicle, but the big three were way behind the curve in developing hybrids and other fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as in increasing reliability to match the Japanese cars. Eight years ago, I bought a Subaru wagon because no American vehicle was nearly as reliable. [To confound matters--it was made at a US plant.]
I’ll jump down off my soapbox now and offer you my sympathy. Good luck to you and yours.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:26 AM
Thanks, CorningNY…
GM promises to come out on the other side leaner and better for all this drama. It’s just getting from here to there that is the painful part.
But Michiganders are a sturdy bunch. We’re dedicated and hard working and will persevere, making better product and “cleaning house” of that which is contrary to our success.
I’m truly saddened and awestruck, however, by what the folks in AK are going through. It will be the entire summer of toiling to clean up and rebuild before the snow flies again.
I just hope SP doesn’t drag her feet anymore. Waiting… how long was it? A few WEEKS? … to request that the area was even declared a “Disaster”? Unbelieveable. She better get that fancy pen out and make any and all requests she can ASAP.
FEMA will help. I know they will.
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:44 AM
Where is Sarah? Did someone tell her the “feds” took over? I’ve seen disasters in other states on TV over the years and the Governor was always present and in charge of their states. My heart goes out to all of the residents suffering through this. I know the suffering in losing your home and having nothing left to place your hand on and say, “This is mine”. Been there, done that.
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:40 AM
I’m not here to defend Palin. She could definitely be handling this better.
However, there is a lot of state response in Eagle right now. DOT is constructing a road all the way around the other side of the airport to avoid a situation like this from reoccurring, DPS has a representative there working with the local VPSO to ensure that order is kept, and there’s a representative from DMVA coordinating state aid. I know from the residents that Fish and Game had been there as well. When I was there they (the State folks) had already been there for two weeks working extremely hard to help in any way that they could. Please remember their efforts.