Disaster Relief funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development have been made available to the Chilkoot Indian Association to assist Haines residents in repairing damage from the December 2020 floods and landslides.
The disastrous weather event in early December of 2020 saw over ten inches of rainfall in a two-day period compounded by 96” of snowfall in six days in the Haines borough. The cumulative effect was catastrophic. On Tuesday the Chilkoot Indian Association announced that they had received disaster funds from HUD to assist homeowners in repairing any lingering damage.
“Anybody who has had an issue with their property, their driveways, flood damage, any debris that needs to be cleared up, also redirecting any floodwaters that that keep occurring, because of the heavy rain and everything. We’re here to help with that, too,” said Chilkoot Indian Association’s housing coordinator Aliza Tompkins.
She said the service is open to any and all residents of Haines not limited to the native population. But this program cannot offer reimbursements for work that’s already been done to repair property damage. According to Tompkins, after a homeowner’s application is approved, the association will send their in-house crew to do the work.
“They’ll be coming by and actually taking pictures, assessing the damage, and documenting all the damage that’s been done. And from there, we have to do what’s called an environmental review, which is kind of a lengthy, lengthy process to make sure that the environment will not be damaged. And from there, then, then the crew will go out and fix what we need to fix,” said Tompkins.
She said a timeline for completion of repairs will depend on the damage and whether stores in the area have the necessary supplies. But she also said this is the right time to get started.
“Now that spring is hit, now that everything is thawing, and the snow is going away. This is the best time to actually assess the damage that we can fix as we go,” said Tompkins.
Applications are available at the Chilkoot Indian Association office, can be downloaded from their website or facebook page, or you can call their office at 766-2323 and ask for Tonya.
