Flooding and erosion leave Eagle residents more isolated than ever

The convoys leading people out of Eagle, Alaska over a narrow, winding mountain road and back again are on hold until at least Friday. More repair work on the badly damaged gravel highway is needed before it will be safe for even limited travel, according to the Alaska Department of Transportation.

In July and August, heavy rain washed out sections of the road and triggered landslides that covered others. One man -- a customs employee with the Division of Homeland Security -- died after his car went off the road when the flooding first hit.

The lack of access is more than an inconvenience for the isolated, spirited town, which sits on the north bank of the Yukon River, deep within Alaska's Interior. And the double summers of severe environmental events -- major flooding and landslides -- have some residents questioning how much more is in store as a seemingly swiftly-changing environment leaves its mark.

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The 165-mile-long road to Eagle, which turns away from the Alaska Highway near Tetlin Junction, is the only road access to the community, and it's not a year-round access route. Typically, the road is only open in the summers when enough snow and ice have cleared to make travel safe. This is the time of year when residents make journeys into nearby Tok and even Fairbanks to shop for food and supplies they'll need to get through the winter. While flight service is available, it's limited by weather and cost. Many residents, still struggling with the aftermath of last year's ice flood, can't afford to pay the fuel and shipping costs to have freight flown in.

"People are really anxious to get out," said Ann Millard, an Eagle resident, city council member and school principal who has been selected to act as a go-between between the community and state transportation officials. "We are a small village that has an airport but now not a road, and for the first time we are going to know what it's like to be so isolated. It's kind of sobering."

"It happened so fast we are unprepared," she said.

From tourist destination to disaster declaration

Neighbors are pooling their efforts, making a list of who will be driving out of town and who is able to do shopping for others. One of the biggest needs is for dog food, Millard said. Dog owners, some of whom are mushers, can afford the food, but not necessarily the cost of having it specially shipped. Stocking up on food for families and students is also a top priority. Generally the road closes for the season in mid-October. This year, no one can say when the road might permanently reopen. There's no way to predict with certainty when crews will complete the $18 million in repairs the road needs.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell declared the road situation a state disaster on July 26. In August he also sought an economic injury declaration, which would make low-interest loans available to local small businesses, many of which are struggling to deal with the horribly bad timing of the road closure.  Mid-to-late summer is the height of the tourist season, and with no road service, the tour buses that normally ferry visitors to and from nearby Dawson City in the Yukon Territory came to a stop, as did visits by the riverboat that works in conjunction with the buses.

Before it pulled out, Holland America's Yukon Queen riverboat donated its stash of food to the school for distribution to the community -- chocolate cake and pre-prepared chicken meals -- a nice gesture, but one that's of little consolation to the businesses, artists and crafters who rely on cash-spending tourists to get by.

Unlike the governor, city leaders in Eagle aren't ready to declare the situation a disaster, according to Millard. There remains disagreement about whether bringing in federal response to help with the 2009 ice flood was a good idea, and many city council members believe government in general costs too much money and problems can be solved more cheaply at the local level.

"They think people should just buck up and do it themselves," Millard said. It's an attitude reflected in the community's voting record; 38 local Republicans voted for anti-big-government candidate Joe Miller in the Republican Senate primary, while only 14 voted for more moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who won the majority of Eagle's primary votes in 2004.