The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly met in special session Friday afternoon to address the recent disaster declaration.
Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce issued the the declaration Dec. 6, but according to Emergency Manager Dan Nelson, the events it accounts for go back to last month
“We’re calling this a winter storm event, this warm weather, high wind, high precipitation event goes back to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, when we started seeing in the south peninsula, particularly around Seldovia, some very high winds that caused some extended power outages,” Nelson said.
Most of the damage that occurred was on the southern peninsula, where rains washed out sections of borough and state roads.
“Kachemak Drive in the Homer area, the North Fork road, Old Sterling (Highway). Those aren’t borough roads, but obviously causing an impact to our residents,” Nelson said.
The assembly approved $280,000 to address road repairs and other costs. That ordinance and a resolution extending the original disaster declaration both passed with unanimous consent.
Shaylon Cochran is a host and reporter at KDLL in Kenai. He’s reported on fishing, energy, agriculture and local politics since coming to Alaska in 2011. He has worked at KDLL/KBBI on the Kenai Peninsula, where he picked up lots of new hobbies, like smoking salmon, raising chickens, skiing and counting RV’s. He holds a bachelors degree in Journalism from Iowa State University.
