Juneau Assembly to consider local disaster declaration for storm damage

AWARE mudslide
The ground outside of the AWARE offices on Glacier Highway is covered in debris after a mudslide on Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/KTOO)

The Juneau Assembly on Monday will consider declaring a local disaster due to damage from last week’s record rainstorm.

Katie Koester directs Juneau’s Engineering and Public Works Department. She said the rare storm likely caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to city infrastructure. That includes stormwater basins, the Twin Lakes Park and streets all over Juneau.

“All of these roads will be patched until the spring, as much as we can,” she told an Assembly committee on Monday. “We are concerned that the forecast for snow in the near future is going to complicate our timeline and our ability to clean things up.”

She was running through some early damage reports. She said an insurance adjuster will document damage in the community next week.

The scale of damage to private property and the economy is likely much higher.

The storm cut off a pipe that runs freshwater from Alaska Electric Light & Power’s Salmon Creek Dam to the salmon hatchery Douglas Island Pink and Chum, Inc. A lot of young fish were destroyed.

“Probably the biggest impact on this for our regional economy if the impact to the hatchery,” Koester said. “Right now, they’re trucking water in to be able to maintain those fry alive, and working on some contingency plans there. But you know, that is a significant amount of stock for our entire region, both commercial and sportfishing.”

Slides directly damaged some homes and properties, while others got swamped.

Mandy Cole is executive director of the domestic abuse shelter AWARE. She said her greatest concern after a nearby mudslide is the stability of the slope the shelter sits on and the damaged parking lot.

“Obviously, this is not an event that we can comfortably absorb,” Cole said. “Ultimately, my hope is if it’s very costly, that there will be other sources that can help us out.”

She thinks AWARE will be named in Juneau’s disaster declaration.

If Juneau officials do declare a local disaster, it adds to the chorus calling for a federal disaster declaration. Officials in Gustavus and hard-hit Haines have declared local disasters. And Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared a disaster on Saturday for most of Southeast Alaska.

A disaster declaration from President Donald Trump would open up federal emergency funding for the recovery.

Jeremy Hsieh

Local News Reporter, KTOO

I dig into questions about the forces and institutions that shape Juneau, big and small, delightful and outrageous. What stirs you up about how Juneau is built and how the city works?

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