Houses Start Falling Into Copper River Due To Late Spring Floods

 Nothing Like This In 48 Years  Dusty Knighten & Chris Craig Working Nonstop To Try To Save Local Homes From River   Copperville home he...

 Nothing Like This In 48 Years 

Dusty Knighten & Chris Craig Working Nonstop To Try To Save Local Homes From River 


Copperville home heads down river, like a boat. (Photos by Ray Craig, as sent in a video to KTUU)

A house fell into the Copper River at Copperville and was swept down the river on Memorial Day.
 
A neighbor, Ray Craig, has lived there for 48 years. "These past two years the river has moved over on our side," he told the Copper River Country Journal. Snow melt has caused intermittent severe flooding in various parts of the Copper Valley.
 
"That house went into the river this morning," said Ray. "We got a video of it. My son, Chris,  and Dusty Knighten, they moved my log house away from the river."
 
Ray said the two young men have been working nonstop trying to save nearby homes for a week and a half. "They were working night and day. They went home this morning about 4 o'clock. They worked all day and all night."

Chris and Dusty are clearing trees, checking houses, and using a telescoping fork lift to pick up the ends of the houses so they can move them away from the river.
 
A number of homes are reported in the way of the rampaging Copper. 
 
One of those homeowners, Ron Nordquist, has a 2-story home, Ray Craig said. "That's a pretty good size house. You need to clear a swath through the trees to get that out," Ray said. But the guys are "pretty ingenious." Nevertheless, it looks hard to save. 
 
As for the Ray Craig home, "I'm worried. But I'm not worried the next week or two. It's one of those things. It could get really close to me, or wipe me out or not do anything... I'm not too worried any more. (That might change by tomorrow.) It may cut through my yard, where the log house was." Yet, he was somewhat hopeful. "I don't think it'll get me here where I am. The way the river nibbles, it makes a sort of a bay."
 
As for the house that went down the Copper, you could tell when it was about to enter the water. "They were here all night working. They said, Dad, that house is ready to go. It was a 45 degree angle, sitting on top of the bank. It stayed upright. It looked like a boat going down the river. That river is pretty fast. It was going by to the bend in about 2 minutes. It was still upright." 
 

Ray took a video of the house going into the water and drifting off, which was sent for use by KTUU. Daniel Chappell told KTUU that 6 homes were in danger. 
 
On Memorial Day, all snow in the Copper Valley had melted, and the air temperature was 75 degrees.

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