Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration Sunday for the past month of winter storms in the Chilkat Valley.
The weeks-long pummeling began in early December when temperatures bottomed out into the single digits and stayed resolutely low through the holidays. Then it started snowing. From Dec. 28 to Jan. 1, Haines Harbor weather equipment recorded over 44 inches of snow. After a three-day clear spell, the second week of January laid down another 40 inches.
According to historical weather data at the Haines Harbor station, the past three weeks are the second highest three-week period of snowfall since 2000. The highest period was in November 2011.
While not completely unprecedented, the storm has taken a toll. The Haines Borough administration hired two extra plow operators and had existing crews working overtime to keep roads clear. When there was nowhere left to push snow, the borough received a special permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to dump it into the canal.
Borough finance officer Jila Stuart this week estimated the full expenses for the snow response — equipment, fuel, labor, and contracted work — at $50,000 or more. With roads washing out in flooding this week, Stuart said that number stands to grow significantly.
With the state disaster declaration, the borough stands to recoup at least some of those costs. The specific disaster declaration currently in place allows for distribution of public assistance funding, which can reimburse “emergency protective measures” for official organizations like local governments, tribal governments, and non-profits, said DEC spokesperson Jeremy Zidek.
That covers costs directly from the storms, including damage to infrastructure. It can also reimburse snow-clearing costs deemed to be directly from the storms. That means overtime pay for equipment operators can be reimbursed, but normal salary hours cannot.
The cost of the storms, however, has hit individuals just as much as official government accounts. And for now, there isn’t any official funding to help out private citizens with property damage, snow-clearing costs, and the like. That would require a separate state disaster declaration for individual assistance, which comes from a different pot of aid money.
Zidek said state officials do not open up that avenue of funding for individuals until they see evidence of a “significant amount of damage” in the community. Borough manager Alekka Fullerton has asked residents to record evidence of damage, including photos, to be submitted in the event the state does grant individual assistance in the coming weeks. The final call on such a disaster declaration would come from the governor.
The effort to stave off serious damage as snow was falling was an all hands on deck effort. A list of residents searching for snow-clearing help, started by resident Sheri Loomis and eventually taken over and maintained by borough staff, reached 31 entries.
Even as it seems the Chilkat Valley has avoided some of the most major structure damage seen in nearby Juneau, that wasn’t always a certainty while the snow was falling.
Private citizens like Eric Freund, who both volunteered and worked for hire clearing buildings around town, reported having to triage as snow fell faster than it could be cleared.
“We’re just trying to help the elderly and high-risk structures that look like they could collapse,” Freund said on Friday during the last of the major snowfall.
Likewise for Borough and Chilkoot Indian Association crews. Harriet Brouillette, the Chilkoot Indian Association’s tribal administrator, said the tribal government had seven staff members operating heavy equipment and shoveling for 10 days straight, through a planned holiday break.
“We started out with a list, going by who called first,” Brouillette said. “But it reached a point where we had to prioritize elders. We couldn’t even get to roofs until probably four days in.”
Borough public works superintendent Patrick Cowart said on Friday his team hadn’t had a break since Christmas. Beyond clearing streets, Cowart said the crew was attempting to clear blocked and frozen culverts, particularly in high-risk flood areas like Young Road.
All that work paid off for residents like 82-year-old Barbara Chambers Murphy, who lives alone on Deishu Drive. Worried about roof collapse and deck collapse, Chambers Murphy hired a crew of private citizens to clear her roof. Almost as soon as they left, the snow load was back, at which point Chilkoot Indian Association staff re-cleared Chambers Murphy’s roof and plowed the driveway.
“I’m hanging in there, watching my westerns,” Murphy said this week.
Other residents, however, were feeling the full weight of the weather. Nearby, at Dusty Trails apartments, Mona Brown worked on her own Friday shoveling out her car.
“I shouldn’t be out here,” Brown said, describing a number of health issues — including an operation on a brain aneurysm last November and recurring migraines.
“The other night I was out here shoveling and I almost had to crawl to get to the door,” Brown said. “I had a big charley horse in my leg and I couldn’t get it out.”
Brown said she had contacted both the borough and Chilkoot Indian Association for help but hadn’t received any before Friday. Later that day,a neighbor helped clear her snow with a snowblower.
Since Friday, warm weather has surfaced the buried landscape, though bringing with it other challenges including avalanches and flooding.
The whole episode should be a warning, said Freund, the snow-clearer.
“If you bought or built a house here and you’re not prepared for something like this, you need to look in the mirror and get yourself personally prepared,” he said. “When you’re in a community this small, you can’t pay your way out of it. It takes a village.”
