Flooding early Wednesday morning caused damage to Young Road, making it impassible. (Photo by Judy Erekson)
Severe flooding in Haines has damaged homes and prevented travel on numerous roads. One residence was swept by a mudslide and at least one other house was evacuated due to flooding Wednesday morning.
Haines resident Shori Heaton said her parents’ home at the end of Lutak Road was swept by a mudslide around 6 am Wednesday morning. The house was vacant. Some neighbors next door also suffered damage to their basement. According to Heaton, the neighbors were asleep when the slide happened.
“They were upstairs. They were sleeping in another room on the couch. It hit the house, rumbled. They went running downstairs to their bedroom where the basement is and it’s just full of mud. It got a foot to four feet of mud in it,” Heaton said.
According to Heaton nobody was injured by the slide. The end of Lutak Road is currently without power and residents with heavy equipment are trying to clear debris off the road from multiple landslides.
“They’re trying to clear that with the people they have there so that they can maybe try to get to town.”
According to Haines Borough Public Facilities Director Ed Coffland, Department of Transportation Foreman Matt Boron has prioritized clearing landslides on Lutak Road between Haines and the ferry terminal.
“We don’t have access out to Lutak Dock or out to the ferry at the moment so [DOT foreman] Matt Boron is working on getting those roads opened up. That’s his main priority. We at the borough are just focusing on trying to divert some of the water to limit the amount of wash out there that we’re getting right now. We know that we have several houses that are threatened, but we’re going to do the best we can to minimize the damage.”
A tree was swept across Mud Bay Road at Letnikoff Road. (Photo by Henry Leasia)
Lutak is not the only area of Haines that has suffered extensive damage. Large holes have opened up in many roads around town. Others are blocked by debris.
Coffland said that there is about three feet of standing water at the Moose’s Horn Laundromat. Some residents have evacuated their homes in that area.
Coffland said the borough is asking residents to stay home as much as possible.
“It‘s pretty dangerous to get on some of these streets that are really washed out. And number two, it just gets in the way of our crews trying to to work,” Coffland said. “It would be great just to minimize travel as as much as possible.”
The National Weather Service has forecast more rain through the end of the week.
KHNS will continue to provide information about local flooding throughout the day. Tune in to 102.3fm or 91.9fm for a list of road closures and updates from the borough’s emergency operations center.
