Hoonah declares local disaster following back-to-back storms in Southeast Alaska

The City of Hoonah declared a local emergency this week following heavy snowstorms in the region. 

On Tuesday night, the Hoonah City Council unanimously approved a disaster declaration, which opens the door for the Southeast community to request aid from the state. Gov. Mike Dunleavy approved the declaration Thursday morning. 

Hoonah’s City Administrator, Dennis Gray Jr., says the small community on Chichagof Island has been overwhelmed with the snow and needs assistance. As of yesterday morning, the National Weather Service in Juneau recorded that Hoonah had received at least three feet of snow since late December. 

“We’re facing the same issues that Juneau is,” he said. “We had three boats sink in our harbor. We have two that are still sunk and causing damage to the floats.”

Hoonah’s declaration comes around the same time that city and tribal leaders in Juneau announced a joint disaster declaration after back-to-back snowstorms dumped more than four feet of snow on Juneau.

Gray said Hoonah city staff and residents are struggling to keep up with snow removal on buildings, boats and roads. He said multiple porches and trailers have collapsed or been damaged due to the increasingly heavy snowpack. 

“We had eight men on top of our wastewater plant shoveling off snow to make sure it didn’t collapse,” he said. “It’s just a big mess.”

Gray said the city is requesting assistance from the state primarily to help recover the two large sunken vessels that local equipment is unable to remove from the harbor. 

Both Hoonah and the capital city are bracing for an atmospheric river expected to hit Southeast on Thursday evening that will bring heavy rain and potential flooding.