Wrangell leaders request federal help after natural disaster devastates small community

WRANGELL, Alaska (KTUU) - After a devastating landslide tore down a mountainside in Wrangell, destroying several homes and killing at least four people, the interim city and borough manager is taking action.

Interim manager Mason Villarma, along with a team of community leaders, are in Washington, D.C. to ask for federal aid for their unsettled community.

“In terms of impact, the community is scared, I think, and rightfully so,” Villarma said in an interview on Tuesday. “We’ve lost six of our community members of a town of 2,096 — or what was that. That’s proportionate in Juneau of over 80 people. In Anchorage, that’s 800. ... It’s very personal.”

The team on Tuesday met with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a former resident of the small Southeast town.

“She’s provided several resources to address the disaster and our response as well as some other liabilities in terms of capital projects that affect our public safety,” Villarma said.

Villarma believes Gov. Mike Dunleavy will be able to help fund the re-stabilization project for their dam. Murkowski is also working with the Department of Interior and U.S. Geological Survey to provide the town with oversight and monitoring functions for future landslides.

“I think between the two of them, we’ll be in really good shape, and I truly believe both of them have the best interest at heart when it comes to Wrangell and the community,” Villarma said.

Villarma believes his city is in need of the government’s help to bolster the town’s public safety. Other public safety issues the community is dealing with include having the most high-risk dam in the state and a public safety building in disrepair.

“We’re confident that our leadership, Sen. Sullivan, Sen. Murkowski, the governor and our local representation, Sen. Stedman and Rep. Ortiz, will follow through on a commitment to our community to address public safety concerns. And if not I think Wrangell is at stake of potential absolute regression, and I think that the leadership knows that,” Villarma said.

The team is working with the delegation to gain resources to address the disaster and response, as well as capital projects that concern the public safety in Wrangell.

The fishing community, on an island south of Juneau, has been hard at work to clear the Zimovia Highway of trees and debris since the Nov. 20 slide. The debris has been making it difficult to restore power to the south side of the island.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities on Sunday was able to clear one lane that had been blocked since the landslide occurred. On Tuesday, Villarma said that the road was fully cleared.

There are 71 residents on the south side of the slide, who now require a permit to travel through the area of the affected roadway. They are limited to going through the access point three times a day. It’s unknown when the road will have open access and no oversight due to the road being private property as well as there being concerns for liability of those passing through. It’s another big problem that the team hopes the Federal Emergency Management Agency will help address.

Many of these residents are at the age of retirement and no longer have great equity of their homes due to their proximity to the landslide. Villarma hopes to see if there’s any way to aid those residents, many of them living on the south side of the island.

“We have a grassroots approach to this response and recovery, we believe that all community members’ needs should be addressed and like I said, our response has been really swift and all-encompassing,” Villarma said. “I mean all 71 residents got their prescriptions out there, they got generators for their homes, fuel, food, clothing and to do that in such a small town with limited resources requires a lot of heart and dedication from the community.”

The Wrangell community will come back stronger, Villarma says, even though it may not seem that way now.

If there is a federal emergency declared for the Wrangell community, the money will be used in a calculated manner.

Villarma says they would use it for monitoring capacity, including sensors in potential areas of risk, a weather station, and soil monitoring for landslides. The overall approach still remains up in the air, but the team is much more hopeful after this visit.

On Wednesday, the team will be meeting with Sullivan, Rep. Mary Peltola, along with the Department of Transportation and FEMA.

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