A dozen Wrangell households had applied as of Dec. 7 for state financial aid to help them recover from the Nov. 20 landslide. The deadline to apply is not until Jan. 27, and an official with the state emergency management agency is encouraging anyone who believes they were directed affected by the slide to fill out an application.
“We want people to apply,” said Jeremy Zidek, with the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The division will review the applications and give priority to people who have the greatest needs. “We try to work those first,” he said.
The governor issued a disaster declaration the day after the deadly slide at 11-Mile Zimovia Highway. Residents can request financial assistance of up to $21,500 per household for housing repairs and up to the same amount for any combination of lost or damaged personal items such as clothing, furnishings and tools; energy costs; medical expenses; transportation or temporary storage costs.
Assistance also is available for temporary rentals if their home is uninhabitable.
“The programs are designed to help people who had damage to their homes,” their primary vehicle or other essential items not covered by insurance, Zidek said Dec. 7. “We’re looking for those critical needs that are not being met by other programs.”
Though state disaster assistance is available for people who incurred temporary housing expenses when they were blocked from getting to their home, their eligibility for the housing aid generally would end when they are able to move back to their property. Concern about living in a slide-prone area generally would not qualify as a direct affect eligible for state grant funds.
If, however, the borough or a state or federal agency determined there was “imminent danger” and it was unsafe for people to return to their homes, they might qualify for the state aid, Zidek said.
The emergency management division has sufficient funds to cover Wrangell household grants, he said. “Alaska is one of the only states in the nation to have an individual assistance program.”
Under the state disaster declaration, the borough is eligible to seek reimbursement for its landslide response costs, including power line repairs.
Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma the week after the slide estimated the borough’s disaster claim to the state could exceed $1 million.
If the total damages for personal property and the costs of the borough and state response exceeds a federal threshold, the state could seek a federal disaster declaration, Zidek explained. That would not expand the amount a household or the borough could receive, but would shift much of the expense away from the state. Under a federal declaration, the U.S. Treasury would pick up 75% of the cost, leaving 25% for the state.
“At the current moment, with our state disaster declaration, the state’s disaster recovery programs would cover 100% of the cost,” Zidek said.
“These have to be really major events” to qualify for a federal disaster declaration, he explained, such as the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that shook Southcentral Alaska in November 2018 or Typhoon Merbok that swept through 22 communities across Western Alaska in September 2022.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Dec. 5 expanded the state disaster declaration to include widespread flooding, landslides, road closures and power outages on Prince of Wales Island, which was hit by the same wind-and-rain storm as Wrangell on Nov. 20.
With the governor’s amendment to the declaration, Prince of Wales Island residents directly affected by storm damage can apply for state disaster relief.
Wrangell residents who want to learn more about the aid programs or want to apply can pick up a packet at City Hall, go to the state website at ready.alaska.gov/ia, or call 844-445-7131.
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