Alakanuk, Alaska
Background
Alakanuk is a Yup'ik Eskimo word meaning "wrong way," aptly applied to a village located on a major channel of a maze of ever shifting channels on the Yukon River Delta, 15 miles from the Bering Sea. The entire commercial fishing and subsistence community, in addition to the surrounding tundra for miles around, are within the floodplain of the Yukon River. There are no roads connecting Alakanuk with other communities in the region. Boats are the primary means of transportation in the summer and snow machines are used in the winter. The 2,200 ft. gravel airstrip is the primary means of access. The city of Alakanuk is not a participant in the NFIP. Also, there are no surveyors, engineers, banks or insurance agencies in the village.
The height of the 1952 flood that reached depths of 5 feet is used as the flood of record. Ice run-up during annual Spring Breakup often causes damage or destruction to riverfront structures. However, it has been the riverbank erosion that has caused the greatest disturbance.
Project Description
Erosion has been a constant threat over the last 25 years. Multiple studies indicated $6 to $7 million needed for a structural erosion protection project that still would not have addressed the damage from flooding and ice run-up. Finally when the phased construction of the community's first fully-piped water and sewage system was underway, a land use plan for long term avoidance of erosion and minimization of flood damages was developed. This planning effort involved community prioritization of goals and multi-agency coordination. One priority was to use elevation to address the community's extreme erosion threat. Another priority was to move twenty-one homes, three public buildings and a church beyond the 30-year erosion zone. All structures were elevated one foot above estimated "1% chance flood event"*, except the fire station and public works building.
Benefits
__Utilized multi-agency coordination to meet State priorities of bringing water/sanitation facilities to the community and meeting public safety concerns.
__Created a city ordinance regulating new development against flood and erosion risks.
__Identified high water marks of record so that new and relocated structures could be properly elevated.
__Mapped the estimated 30-year erosion zone.
Costs and Funding Sources
__Plan development total costs, including designating 30-year erosion zone = $77,000
__Community Development Block Grant = $54,000
Alakanuk Erosion and Land Use Plan, prepared by Dames & Moore (6/10/98), financed in part from the CDBG administered by the Department of Community and Economic Development, Division of Community and Business Development
__USACE Planning Assistance to States and Emergency Shoreline Protection, Section 14 = $23,000
__Relocation and building elevation costs = $391,420
__CDBG funds to date = $137,805
__Additional CDBG funds approved = $62,000
__Native American Housing & Self-Determination Act Program = $124, 667
__Alaska Capital Matching Grants = $78,948
__FEMA HMGP approximately = $50,000
Note
* "1% chance" = a flood event that has a 1% chance of occurring or being exceeded in any given year. This is a replacement term for the "100 year flood".