Borough declares disaster after new Talkeetna riverbank damage, Petersville Road washouts

What you need to know:

• The Matanuska-Susitna Borough issued a disaster declaration Monday after heavy rains earlier this month washed out parts of Petersville Road and pushed floodwaters toward downtown Talkeetna.
• State crews completed repairs along Petersville Road on Monday, restoring access for about 30 residents stranded by the washouts. Borough crews are waiting for water levels to recede before fully assessing damage to the Susitna River revetment in Talkeetna.
• The emergency declaration allows the borough to access state and federal funding for repairs.

PALMER -- The Matanuska-Susitna Borough issued a disaster declaration Monday after heavy rains earlier this month washed out parts of Petersville Road near Trapper Creek, stranding residents along the remote road. High water also damaged a Susitna River revetment near Main Street in Talkeetna.

The formal disaster declaration allows the borough to access state and federal funding to make repairs, borough officials said. The declaration was signed by Borough Mayor Edna DeVries and Manager Mike Brown.

At least 10 washouts along Petersville Road cut off access to about 30 residents last week, according to KTNA. The National Weather Service in Anchorage issued a flood advisory for the area, with several inches of rain forecast over a series of days.

State crews finished repairing the road near the Long Creek and Cache Creek low-water crossings Monday, and receding water along several other sections made the roadway fully passable, transportation officials said in a Facebook post.

The state and borough maintain about half of the nearly 50-mile recreation and mining access road during the summer. A portion of the damage occurred beyond the maintenance area, the disaster declaration states.

In Talkeetna, high water between Aug. 28 and early this week damaged a dike and an approximately 400-foot-long revetment along the Susitna River near Main Street, as well as sections of the riverbank near the Talkeetna Airstrip about 2,000 feet downriver, borough officials said Tuesday.

The extent of the damage is not known because water levels remain too high for a full assessment, Borough Public Works Director Tom Adams said in an interview. Crews last made emergency repairs in 2023 after heavy rain and high water at the confluence of the Susitna, Talkeetna, and Chulitna rivers eroded the riverbank.

Borough officials closed the street during the flooding and issued a high-water alert to individuals using a borough-owned campground near the waterfront, but did not mandate evacuations, Adams said.

The water overtopped the revetment last week by several inches and reached within about 100 feet of the paved portion of Main Street, KTNA General Manager Phillip Manning said in an interview. It also reached the doors of several private cabins along the riverbank. 

The new borough disaster declaration opens the door to a fresh source of funding to address the revetment damage, Adams said. A borough fund set aside for such repairs in Talkeetna contains about $75,000 — money that will disappear quickly if the damage is extensive, he said.

“We’re just at that period of the year where water levels are high, and unfortunately, the Su is on the eastern bank — it’s the forces of Mother Nature,” Adams said.

-- Contact Amy Bushatz at contact@matsusentinel.com