Nearly 8 years after the quake, FEMA closes out repairs at two Mat-Su parks

Nearly eight years after the Nov. 30, 2018, earthquake, FEMA has closed out its project for quake damage to roads and picnic shelters at Big Lake North and Willow Creek, two state park areas in the Mat-Su.

FEMA committed about $305,000 in federal money to the state Department of Natural Resources for the work, most of the project's roughly $343,000 cost, according to FEMA's project records. It first committed money in April 2020 and made its last entry Oct. 16. The records show money committed, not when the state was paid.

Closeout is FEMA's final accounting on a project. Of the 374 Public Assistance projects FEMA has funded for the quake, 289 are now closed out, according to FEMA data. The other 85 are still open, and they account for about $107 million of the $186.5 million in federal money committed so far.

The Anchorage School District has 25 of those open projects, including work at Dimond and Bartlett high schools and Gruening Middle School. FEMA's latest entry for the Thomas Training Center on Eagle Glacier, a project with about $7.5 million in federal money committed, came Oct. 6.

The quake's disaster declaration, signed Jan. 31, 2019, covers Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula and Mat-Su boroughs. Public Assistance reimburses state, tribal and local governments and some nonprofits for repairing damaged public facilities.