Heavy rains over the weekend and frozen ground resulted in standing water at various locations all over the Kenai Peninsula, leading to high river waters in some places, road damage, and flooding to some properties. Parking lots and road ditches were full of water, and rising river and stream waters even spread out across roads and footpaths in some places.
A portion of Oil Well Road in Ninilchik washed out during the rain storms. The a portion of the road collapsed as a large Hilcorp truck was crossing the area, causing the truck to roll off the side of the road.
“We haven’t determined the root cause. We think it might be associated with a culvert failure, but about half the road washed out and the Hilcorp a rig flipped over in the water,” said Kenai Peninsula Borough Roads Director Scott Greibel. “They’re placing Riprap in the hole, trying to get enough footing to retrieve their vehicle. Once that’s done, then we’re going to move on to a full assessment and road repair.”
No injuries have been reported for the driver of the truck.
The heavy rains prompted flood warnings all across Southcentral Alaska and resulted in minor flooding in several areas. In one place, passersby at the Alaska Cab parking lot on K-Beach Rd. couldn’t help but notice the large amount of standing water reaching up over the base of The Brew drive-through coffee shop.
As for the incident at Oil Well Rd. Greibel says that while the road damage is a small, localized area, the weight of the truck may have caused the collapse.
“We think it’s a culvert, but we’re not really sure yet. There’s so much water. And again, about half the road is eroded away,” Greibel said. “We think that softened up from all of the flow. And then the big truck got in it, and it just kind of collapsed on them, and they rolled over in the ditch.”
