The borough is waiting on a federal disaster declaration to cover the expense of power line repairs and other immediate and near-term costs from the Nov. 20 landslide at 11.2-Mile Zimovia Highway. The Wrangell Cooperative Association is seeking federal funding for the longer-term expense of cleaning up the tidelands of debris and toxic material.
Under federal law, only the governor can request a federal disaster declaration, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency reviews before sending it to the president for signature.
The state has requested the designation, said Jeremy Zidek, public information officer for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. There is no timeline for a federal response, he said.
The community is waiting for a decision and signature from the White House, Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma said Friday, Feb. 23.
In addition to paying borough and WCA costs, a federal disaster declaration would open up funding opportunities for the state, which estimated in December that clearing and rebuilding the highway will cost more than $1.2 million.
Repaving the rebuilt section of damaged highway has been postponed to wait for better weather.
The state also has spent money on personnel and equipment to station a drone and weather station in the slide area to monitor the hillside.
The borough has estimated its expenses at about $600,000, “and climbing,” Villarma reported to the borough assembly earlier this month.
The expenses have been for police and fire department personnel, search and rescue operations, providing fuel and generators for residents who lost power, and rebuilding power poles and transmission lines in the area of the slide.
While the state paid for repairs to the highway, new drainage culverts and clearing the right of way of mud and trees, the borough handled clearing outside the right of way, Villarma said.
The borough filed its request for federal reimbursement in December, he said.
And while state disaster relief grants are limited to no more than $21,250 per household for housing repairs and up to the same amount for other disaster-related needs such as clothing, furnishings, energy costs and temporary storage expenses of families displaced by the slide, a federal disaster declaration would open up much larger funding opportunities for the borough, state and tribe.
FEMA officials met extensively with WCA in January, Villarma said, discussing the possibility of federal funding for the tribe to take on cleaning up the state-owned tidelands, where the heavy outflow of mud from the landslide buried vehicles and fuel tanks.
The slide, which started at almost the 1,500-foot elevation, flowed approximately 3,750 feet to tidewater and then extended an additional 500 feet into Zimovia Strait, according to a state report.
A federal declaration also could cover response and repairs costs from other Southeast landslides that occurred Nov. 20, including snapped power poles and washed-out roads on Prince of Wales Island near Hydaburg, Thorne Bay, Coffman Cove, the Klawock-Hollis Highway and between Craig and Klawock.
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