Mayor Micciche is working with KPB staff and state and federal agencies to find short-term and long-term solutions to the flooding experienced for years in the K-Beach area of the borough.
Due to heavy rains in the fall and heavy snowfall this winter, the water table in an area of approximately 1,300 acres is abnormally high. It is causing serious flooding problems for residents with property in the area. Mayor Micciche has been on the scene repeatedly with several of his directors to get a first-hand look at the impacts of the flooding and to assess what
can be done to help affected residents.
Although the borough does not have direct floodwater powers in the absence of a flood service area (similar to the service area voted in on the Eastern Kenai Peninsula), the Micciche Administration believes there is a great deal that the borough can do to help residents in this distressing situation. Working with the Alaska Department of Transportation, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Natural Resources, and Army Corp of Engineers, the mayor and his team are developing strategies and actions to create long-term solutions. Through his work in the Alaska State Senate, Mayor Micciche has good working relationships with key agency commissioners to initiate plans to rectify the flooding.
Reaching out to residents in the flooded area, Mayor Micciche said, “During this difficult time of flooding in your area, I want you to know that I am personally invested in mitigating this situation. My administration will use all of the resources available to us to help you. The days of the borough not aggressively solving problems just because it’s not directly within our formal purview are over. The KPB team and I are identifying options for relief and creating partnerships with state agencies to find a lasting solution. To put it in simple terms, this water must find a path to Cook Inlet without first passing through your basements and crawl spaces.”
The mayor is asking residents in the affected area to do their part in efforts to mitigate the impacts of flooding by not taking matters into their own hands. Some residents are creating additional ditching or drainage conveyance and causing flooding problems for neighboring residents and damage to nearby roads. Mayor Micciche and KPB staff are currently enacting a plan to address flooding in this area including:
- Documenting water flows on the ground and from aerial assessments conducted during this spring’s event to understand what will deliver the actual results needed to improve the situation in the future.
- Executing a drainage project throughout the area this year as soon as water conditions allow. The mayor has increased the scope to include larger culverts, deeper ditches, cross culverts and a path to Cook Inlet. Instead of beginning at the top of the area, an approach which has negatively impacted many residents, the borough will work backward from the Cook Inlet to the upper reaches of the impacted area while working with state agencies to create a long-term solution to flooding issues in this area.
- Assembling the Alaska Departments of Transportation, Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate and deliver a larger project to provide adequate drainage across K-Beach Road to Cook Inlet, a long-term problem that requires a comprehensive long-term solution.
- Ensuring that borough-owned roads are safely functioning for public use and emergency response.
- Actively discouraging the irresponsible conveyance of water that impacts downstream neighbors.
- Keeping the public updated through KPB Alerts on Facebook and providing prevention tips on OEM website at info.kpb.us. Residents can also call the Road Service Area at 907- 262-4427 to report damaged or impassable roads. The mayor has asked residents to keep the borough abreast of the situation.
- Issuing information to the public through RSA to keep the problems from getting worse. There is a great deal residents can do to help the situation while the borough and state agencies apply short-term and long-term solutions.
- Gathering related constituent information through the borough survey, which is available until May 14 at yourbetterkpb.com. The borough is asking residents to take advantage of efforts to do so.
The borough is also providing residents with reminders to help manage impacts of the situation, which include:
- Please report flooded ditches or culverts and damaged or impassable roads as well as any illegal ditching or trenching to the KPB Roads Service Area at (907) 262-4427.
- Ensure fuel tanks or other loose items that can be controlled are properly secured. Visit https://dec.alaska.gov/eh/dw/security/security-resources/flood-preparation-recovery/.
- In the event of a power outage, do not use generators indoors and use indoor heaters only in well-ventilated areas.
- Remove items from basements or below-ground storage areas that may become water damaged.