If you have not heard, southcentral Alaska is under a severe weather advisory and has been for several weeks now. This week it all came to a head and now we are experiencing major flooding, mudslides, hillsides collapsing, dikes and levees breaching, and everything that comes along with those events. Most of all, we are wet. Very, very, very wet. And guess what?! There is more on the way. Today we enjoyed a few hours of blue sky and sunshine, just enough to give us time to realize we are in the midst of a disaster, to clean up quickly what we could, and prepare for the next onslaught. Luckily, as of yet, no lives have been lost due to the weather...that we are aware of anyway. It is quite possible there are people who live off the grid as well as others who are out hunting that we will not know about until someone realizes they are missing. Until then, though, I am celebrating that we are all safe.
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| Tyonek, Alaska on the west side of Cook Inlet. |
Tyonek is on the west side of Cook Inlet and is currently without power and phones plus the roads around it are impassable. Most are washed out and if bridges are involved, either the bridge or the bridge approaches are washed out. They are amazing people, though, and since they live off the grid, they are used to taking care of themselves. There has just been so much rain and wind for several weeks with more on the way, there will come a breaking point for some people. This evening Governor Parnell declared a disaster area for the Kenai Peninsula and MatSu Boroughs which is good to hear. We are all going to require assistance in repairing and replacing all the infrastructure which has been affected. My hat is off to those on the west side, though. Being off the road system, they tend to get overlooked. Hopefully since Tyonek is in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, it will benefit from the disaster declaration. No matter what, though, CIRI (where I work) will do whatever it can to assist.
This week it has been my pleasure to be able to assist many of our shareholders who live in the Cook Inlet region which spans from the Kenai Peninsula to Sutton and Chickaloon, to Talkeetna and along the west side to Tyonek and Beluga, as well as keeping an eye on all my projects is what I have been working on all week. Alaskans are amazing people and everyone seems to be pulling together to help each other out. Here is a link to a page which has a map identifying CIRI villages and this entire region is experiencing this weather.
http://www.ciri.com/content/history/villages.aspx
Tonight Sam and I are relaxing, although I have my cell phone close just in case. We plan on doing nothing this weekend (since it is supposed to rain all weekend) except watch football (as long as the power holds out), read and rest. We also need to unload the trailer and get it ready for winter storage.
Sam is feeling much better, I am grateful to report. Life has calmed down and is much more relaxed. Next Friday is his final chemo treatment this round and then sometime in October will be a PET scan. In the cancer world, each type of treatment is considered a "line". This chemo is Sam's 9th line of treatment. NINE. That is absolutely nuts. Usually the most is third or fourth line treatments. Ninth is crazy. The man is amazing. Once the chemo is over, I am hoping beyond hope that his energy level increases. It will never be to the point it was before because it is just not possible, but even if he could go 3 hours without a nap rather than 2, that would be terrific.
Enjoy your weekend everyone and stay safe.
q'ua (Dena'ina for "good-bye")
