Ketchikan Assembly to vote Tuesday on Ward Cove substation disaster declaration

Ketchikan's borough and city mayors declared a disaster Friday after a landslide in Ward Cove disabled a Ketchikan Public Utilities electrical substation. The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly votes Tuesday on whether to keep the declaration in force.

KPU crews moved Ward Cove customers onto two other substations, Bethe and Point Higgins. But the declaration says that workaround "is not feasible beyond a few months."

Repairing the substation could cost up to $1.59 million, according to the resolution before the Assembly. That is more than KPU and the City of Ketchikan have available, the resolution says.

The declaration names residents of the borough's North Tongass Service Area, and people who are especially vulnerable, as most at risk. Power outages are "particularly dangerous" for people who rely on electricity for medical care, the resolution says. Both documents expect more damage and outages on the north end of the island as fall and winter storms arrive.

Trees, rocks and mud came down in Ward Cove on Thursday afternoon, according to the declaration. That morning, the National Weather Service had put the borough under a high wind warning, with gusts forecast up to 60 mph and up to 75 mph above 500 feet. By evening, a flood advisory listed Ward Cove among places expected to flood.

Borough Mayor Austin Otos and City of Ketchikan Mayor Bob Sivertsen signed the declaration. Under state law, a mayor's disaster declaration ends after seven days unless the local governing body agrees to keep it.

The resolution would keep the declaration in force and ask the governor for state help, with federal help where the state can't cover it. Residents can comment before the vote at Tuesday's 4:30 pm special meeting.

Ward Cove also had a slide in July, when a rockslide near Cannery Creek blocked both lanes of North Tongass Highway, Alaska News reported.