newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — Downpours across Interior Alaska caused waterways including the Salcha and Tanana rivers to spill their banks Wednesday in a continuation of some of the worst flooding here in decades.

Much of the flood-prone community of Salcha woke to find flood waters had surrounded homes and filled crawlspaces after overnight showers brought two-day rainfall levels to a combined 4 inches.

The Tanana River, at well over 26 feet Wednesday evening, had risen to its highest level since the flood of 1967, National Weather Service hydrologist Ed Plumb said. The forecast was for more rain Wednesday night and this morning — up to another inch in Fairbanks and another two to the northeast.

“The problem that’s going to cause is it’s going to push more water into areas that are already running high,” Plumb said. Water levels along the Tanana River may wind up decreasing slightly, he said. “But it’s going to remain above the flood stage in Fairbanks for a number of days.”

Flooding affected the buildings or property of at least 100 homes in the Salcha area southeast of Fairbanks, including some cases where rising waters reached the home’s finished living space, Fairbanks North Star Borough public information officer Sallie Stuvek said. Another 30-plus homes in the Rosie Creek area just west of Fairbanks reported some type of impact, although Stuvek said emergency managers can’t assess how many homes saw serious damage until waters recede.

The Red Cross set up evacuation shelters in schools in Salcha and Rosie Creek, although it closed the latter early Wednesday afternoon. The borough maintained an emergency operations center, and the National Weather Service extended a flood warning issued Tuesday to cover much of the region through noon today.

A public information line — 459-1213 — has been set up to ring at the borough’s operations center. Plumb suggested people who witness new flooding call the center to keep managers updated. Information on the flooding will be posted on the borough’s Web site.

Emergency response authorities had scheduled a public meeting Wednesday evening at Salcha Elementary School to talk about the flooding. And the Alaska Railroad Corp. announced it was stopping some passenger trains and using buses north of Denali Park as a precaution.

Rains nail Salcha

Many of Salcha’s 1,000 residents and their immediate neighbors are unfortunate enough to experience periodic flooding. It occurs almost exclusively when chunks of ice in the Tanana River become lodged at bends, forming dams that flood the riverbanks.

But this flooding is the same stuff seen in warmer latitudes. The four inches of rain that fell between Monday and Wednesday left soil across the region saturated. Rivers and sloughs rose, and many low lands transformed into huge puddles.

A crew of roughly two dozen volunteers shoveled sand into white and beige sandbags outside the Salcha Fairgrounds Wednesday morning.

“A lot of these guys have gone nonstop without any sleep,” area resident Scott Berry said.

A number of the sandbags were loaded into five pickup trucks owned by technical-support contractor Arctic Slope World Services, which has an employee who lives in the area but is overseas on business. Company employees slowly drove the bags down a submerged Howell Road to the man’s home, along the way passing other homes surrounded by water on most or all sides.

Tony Lashler said he and coworkers had stopped by the house early Wednesday morning to check on it. By then, water had filled the lot and flooded the basement.

“We called (the office) and said, ‘Bad news,’” he said.

By noon, crews from the company had teamed up to surround the house with a wall of sandbags three- or four-bags tall.

Flooding also significantly hit the Old Boondox Bar area, the Salcha River Campground and the Starkeyville neighborhood. Much of the Old Richardson Highway was underwater.

Dozens of residents had voluntarily evacuated the Salcha area. About a half-dozen spent Tuesday night on cots set up at Salcha Elementary School, volunteer Red Cross workers said.

Rivers top some roads

Plumb said the Tanana River was expected to crest overnight or early this morning, as were the Salcha and Upper Chena rivers.

The Tanana River’s height of 26.5 feet is still short of the 27.8 feet seen in August 1967, when much of the area was submerged in a massive flood. The Tanana is high enough, however, to push waters back into its southern connection with the Chena River, flooding some spots along Chena Pump Road, he said. On Wednesday evening, the Salcha River was at its highest level since 1968.

The weather service has extended its flood warning to cover a stretch of the Tanana River between the mouth of the Salcha River to the town of Nenana. A less serious flood “warning” is covering areas along the river to the west, from Nenana to the Manley Hot Springs area.

The New Richardson Highway, though soggy, was in relatively good condition. But some smaller roads around the area weren’t so lucky.

The intersection of the Old Richardson Highway and Springer Road in Salcha was underwater, and Piledriver Bridge was jammed with logs at both ends, according to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Water knocked out a culvert Tuesday at Mile 299 Richardson Highway, according to regional department spokeswoman Meadow Riedel-Bailey. Water from Little Harding Lake spilled over onto Salcha Drive, and other roads were left with only one usable lane at points, according to the department.

Tim Tressler, who lives near Howell Road just west of the Richardson Highway, had to evacuate his two horses after their barn flooded. He said flooding chronically hits the Old Richardson Highway, which serves as a side road for the newer Richardson.

“When it floods like this, the waters flowing down the (Old Richardson) are like a river,” he said.

Salcha resident Al Penerth came out of his Salcha house late Wednesday morning wearing a waterproof jacket and tall rubber boots to survey a knee-high slough that had appeared across his driveway. Behind him, his 27-year-old house was largely surrounded by water.

“We have water in the garage and down in the crawlspace,” he said. “But that’s it.”

Rosie Creek: All wet

Rosie Creek resident Devon Broker got the call at 4:45 a.m. It was a computer. The voice said that the Tanana River was flooding and to take appropriate precautions.

Broker was still in bed.

“I just rolled out of bed, looked out the window and water was almost to the house,” Broker said. She grabbed food, clothing, her 9-month-old baby and fled to her mother-in-law’s house.

About 20 homes in the neighborhood surrounding Perkins Drive were surrounded by water. A few homes had water inching inside. Residents said it was the fourth major flood since 1972. Nearby, Baurick Court was also waterlogged. Elsewhere, a few roads northeast of the Chena Pump Road boat launch were swamped.

DeVonne Koppenberg, who lives on Rosie Creek Road just beyond Perkins Drive, had water in her yard and under her house. She didn’t buy flood insurance after purchasing the property two years ago.

“I don’t know when it’s supposed to crest,” Koppenberg said as she stood watch in her driveway. Her telephone wasn’t working. Koppenberg drove to high ground and used a cell phone to call her son, who was at his job in North Pole. She asked him to come join her watch.

Perkins Drive was lined with cars that flood victims had parked near the intersection with Rosie Creek Road. Many people were traveling back and forth between their homes and higher ground on canoes, kayaks and motor boats. Their goal was to minimize the flood damage.

Firefighters from Chena Goldstream Fire and Rescue went door-to-door by boat warning people and seeing who needed help. Ken and Sherry Pruitt had been awake since about 4:30 a.m. moving objects, including their Nissan Maxima, to higher ground.

“I just hope the water hasn’t got up to my rototiller and my snowblower,” Ken said.

The couple’s daughter and grandson were evacuating on a four-wheeler when it stalled. A boater rescued them.

Neighbor Jesse Perkins fretted about his 500-gallon fuel tank.

“It could float off,” he said. “It could roll and empty.”

Perkins and his father, Chuck, spent the afternoon helping neighbors. So did John Jackson, who got around using his air boat. Despite the hardship, the mood in the neighborhood was lively, especially after the sun came out.

“Did you leave your faucet running back here?” one neighbor joked to another.

“I’ll tell you what it was,” Ken Pruitt remarked. “It was my grandson peeing off of the deck.”

The Broker family spent the afternoon hunting down a boat and filling sand bags.

“We are just going to line them around the house and hope the water doesn’t rise anymore,” Broker said.

Corps thinks of Chena Control trigger

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considered lowering the gates on the Chena Flood Control Project on Wednesday night to restrict the Chena River flow, project manager John Schaake said. As of mid-evening Wednesday, computer models had not reached the point of leading the Corps to engage the control project, which has been used 20 times in its 27-year history to regulate the river.

The Chena River Flood Project would have no effect on the Salcha River, Schaake said. Neither would it affect the Tanana River, which is backing up into the Chena at their confluence. And any action at the dam also would not make a difference for eight to 12 hours in downtown Fairbanks, 40 river miles further down the Chena.

Staff writer Amanda Bohman can be reached at 459-7544. Staff writer Christopher Eshleman can be reached at 459-7582. Rena Delbridge and Rebecca George contributed to this story.