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Eagle resident: ‘None of us have any tears left'

by Jill Burke
Monday, May 11, 2009

EAGLE, Alaska -- The communities of Eagle have shifted out of response mode and into relief. The critical danger, flood waters and moving ice are over.

But as the ice and the adrenaline of the initial shock start to recede, the overwhelming immensity of what has happened -- and what's ahead -- is trickling in.

Front Street follows the Yukon River's edge and is the economic lifeblood of the community.

A store, restaurant, hotels, gift shops, historic properties, homes -- all ruined in one big release of a winter river pushing into spring.

Warm days help rot the ice that pounded through and still sits here, but it's going to be a long time before it all clears out.

The National Park Service's Pat Sanders knows the area well, having lived here for 29 years.

"None of us have any tears left," Sanders said. "The magnitude of what has happened and the feelings that all of us ... the one remarkable thing about Eagle Village and Eagle Proper is the resiliency of the people. That is certainly coming into focus. Everyone is pulling together, it's just remarkable."

On the other side of a road now blocked by ice sits the Old Village of Eagle, which the ice completely washed over and wiped out.

Homes, fish huts, a church, health clinic, the graveyard -- all are beneath massive slabs of ice.

And those that can be found and seen are in shambles. The destruction awed Gov. Sarah Palin, who visited here Monday afternoon and listened to residents tell of what they've lost.

"I've been watching the news and seeing the pictures and getting the updates, but unless you're here and you're seeing this ice and touching this ice and you're seeing the power of the ice and the water and what it can do to structures -- it doesn't do it justice when we're watching it on TV," Palin said. "To be here and to see and hear how it has impacted lives is very significant."

Ben Juneby lost his house here when the crushing ice and floodwaters came through. And like most everyone here, it's hard for him to find the right words to describe what overlooking the place he's called home his entire life is now like.

"It's pretty sad, actually," he said with some resignation in his voice.

"It makes my heart broken -- this is the worst one we had and it's not comfortable seeing it," Rebecca Malcolm said.

Clearing the road to the old village is now expected to take months, so it's on to plan B -- cutting through the woods and putting in a temporary, drivable path.

It's a link officials here hope will be in place by the end of the week.

If you would like to donate relief to residents affected by flooding in Eagle, an account has been set up at Wells Fargo called Rebuild Eagle.

Contact Jill Burke at jburke@ktuu.com