Palin visits Eagle Village to see flood damage

The village of Eagle in Alaska has had massive flood damage, and most of the flood water has frozen to huge slabs of ice. Many residents have lost their homes and businesses in this horrible natural disaster. Palin visited the village to assess the damage and see how bad it really is. I pray for these poor people to have the strength to get through this.

This video and story from KTUU.com




Eagle resident: ‘None of us have any tears left'
KTUU.com
Posted: May 11, 2009 04:16 PM CDT
Updated: May 12, 2009 01:42 AM CDT
by Jill Burke

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."

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