Petersburg Assembly asks state for two more tsunami sirens and a new inundation study

The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted 6-0 Monday, Oct. 5, to ask the state for two more tsunami warning sirens to cover the harbors and Papke's Landing.

Those areas are not fully covered under current FEMA standards, according to the agenda item, which Mayor Bob Lynn read before the vote. Each siren head would cost about $30,000 if the borough bought it on its own. Through a resource opportunity offered by the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the borough would receive the sirens for the cost of shipping. Petersburg would be responsible for installing and maintaining them.

Petersburg already has warning sirens, installed in 2017, according to a National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program annual report.

The assembly also voted 6-0 to send a letter asking that division and the Alaska Earthquake Center to prioritize an updated tsunami inundation study for the borough. An inundation study maps the areas a tsunami could flood. The agenda item said new mapping would give more precise information for evacuation planning, emergency preparedness and protecting critical waterfront infrastructure. The borough would provide local data, coordinate stakeholders and fold the results into its emergency planning.

Alaska's tsunami maps come from a state partnership of the Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, the Alaska Earthquake Center and the emergency management division, funded through the federal tsunami program.

Emergency Services Director Aaron Hankins prepared both letters. Assembly Member Jeff Meucci tied the study request to a tsunami presentation some members attended. "This is just going back to the presentation several of us saw a month or so ago about tsunamis and what could happen to communities," Meucci said. He said updated maps would give the borough something to share with residents interested in flood inundation zones or tsunamis.

Meucci pressed the idea at the assembly's Sept. 21 meeting, saying Petersburg was one of the only communities not represented in a flood inundation study shown during those presentations.

Papke's Landing, one of the areas the new sirens would cover, is the site Alaska News reported the borough would receive from the state.

Lynn thanked Hankins after the siren vote. "And I hope that we can continue with looking at the emergency management side of this," Lynn said.