NPS Responds To River Flooding, Community Damage

Flooding on the Yukon River has caused significant damage in the park’s gateway communities, Eagle and Eagle Village, including losses to employee homes, and led to the evacuation on Tuesday afternoon of at least one family living near the National Park Service unit. There is a high potential for additional damage to National Park Service assets in Eagle and in several locations downstream within the 2.5 million acre preserve.  Flood waters are being driven by a combination of higher than usual snow pack (up to 150% of normal), higher than usual ice formation on the river (up to 140% of normal), and several days of unseasonably warm weather that has caused rapid melting and ice movement downstream on the Yukon. Using an NPS charter helicopter, rangers evacuated a couple living just outside the preserve boundary about 12 miles downstream of Eagle. The family had seen one of their sled dogs and riverboat crushed by ice on Monday night and was in significant danger. The couple was evacuated from their cabin’s roof along with their remaining 24 sled dogs on Tuesday afternoon and flown to Eagle. Rangers are evaluating options for evacuating up to five other people who live on private land within the preserve and who are in danger from the ice and high water. “We’re concerned about our neighbors and will be seeing how we can best help out,” said Greg Dudgeon, superintendent at Yukon-Charley Rivers. “We’ve got employees in Eagle who have lost property as well, so we’ll be looking out for them and moving in staff and supplies from Fairbanks to assist them.”  Eagle Village, about three to four miles from the NPS field headquarters in Eagle, has seen many of its buildings damaged or destroyed by flooding. Within Eagle, at least two employee homes have had water damage and one of them had water up to the second story. An estimated ten homes in Eagle had been damaged or destroyed, and an estimated 30 of the area's 125 residents were homeless as of Tuesday morning. Dudgeon said on Tuesday that several Eagle Village residents were reported to be stranded by the flood waters, and that a second National Park Service helicopter would be providing either evacuation or bringing supplies to those families later that day. As of Tuesday afternoon, the NPS had provided the only emergency air response in this northeastern Alaska community. The park has also flown reconnaissance flights up and down river from Eagle and reported significant ice between Eagle and the Canadian border which could cause additional ice jams and flooding as it moves downstream over the balance of the week. Park staff and a NPS Type II team flown in from Fairbanks have assisted the community by providing packaged meals, water and toiletries to the Eagle school, which is serving as an evacuation center. The staff has also evacuating its own computer equipment, historical documents and other vulnerable supplies to NPS buildings on higher ground in Eagle. After the flooding subsides, Yukon-Charley staff will assess damage downstream to resources in the preserve. Flooding and ice movement along the riverbanks is common, but this year’s damage likely will be significantly above the usual flood levels. The preserve maintains several historical public use cabins along the river, including the landmark two-story Slaven's Roadhouse at Coal Creek. Other smaller cabins and artifacts from the early 1900s and earlier dot the riverbanks. An additional concern is that house debris, fuel tanks and other waste from damaged residences will wash through the preserve this spring, causing possible cleanup work for the NPS.