St. Herman Harbor sustains significant damage from wind

“Every windstorm we keep our fingers crossed because [the harbor] is 10- to 12-years past its service life,” Johnson said. “It’s all triaged at this point until we can get the harbor rebuilt.”

Vessels attached to the destroyed boat slips were safely moved to other boat slips before they were damaged, according to Johnson. Nobody was injured in the incident.

“We had the entire harbor staff down there and the vessel owners responded...,” Johnson said. “They drove to new spots that weren’t breaking, and we tied them up. It was quite the [situation] in that wind, but we got everybody moved safely.”

St. Herman Harbor moors more than 400 vessels, including much of Kodiak’s commercial fishing fleet. The float system has been losing one dock a year to age and the elements, and the latest inspection reports indicate that many parts of the facility are in “very poor condition.” But the loss of the seven floats in one weather event is the most floats St. Herman Harbor has been known to lose at one time.

The city of Kodiak and Kodiak Island Borough are seeking state and federal funding to overhaul the harbor. The total request for the multi-phase project will be $56 million, with $16 million requested for the first two phases and $40 million requested for the last two phases of the plan.

The city of Kodiak is scheduled to present the waterfront master plan tonight at the City Council work session.

There were 113 boats on the waiting list for St. Herman Harbor last week. Johnson said any slip holder whose slip was lost in the windstorm will go to the top of the waiting list.

The lost piling is currently submerged near the north marine entrance to the harbor. Johnson said buoys will be placed on it today to mark its location. 

“We knew the harbor was in this kind of condition,” Johnson said. “That’s why it’s the top priority of the city and the borough to get the funding to replace it. I think this was kind of the inevitable end of the service life of the harbor.”

Boat owner Tyler Randolph is one of those who had to move his vessel during the storm. He said he was glad the harbormaster reached out to help move his vessel.

“Had we gotten there 5 minutes later, it could have been really bad,” Randolph said in an interview with KDM.

The city is looking at declaring the windstorm a federal disaster, according to Johnson, which would allow the city to receive federal funds to assist with repairs.

That option had not yet been discussed with Mayor Pat Branson or the City Council as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a text from Deputy City Manager Josie Bahnke. “The first step is assessing the magnitude of damage in terms of replacement costs. Having that figure will dictate the discussion and the city’s next steps.”

Said Randolph: “I hope they’re not waiting to let it get so bad that they’re able to declare an emergency and get some federal funding that way. It’s embarrassing to be the second-largest fishing port in the United States and have our docks and our harbors look like they do.”

Four of the seven failed floats have the potential to be repaired, said Johnson, and he hopes that most of the repaired floats will be returned to service this summer. He said the shipyard can usually rebuild a couple of floats per summer. He said hardware and labor for each float could be between $10,000 and $12,000.

“This will be a priority this year because of how many got damaged,” Johnson said, “so we’ll have to get going just to be trying to repair what we have.”

In addition to the loss of harbor infrastructure, an impounded vessel was also blown from its blocks while dry-docked. The harbor brought in a crane to lift the vessel back onto its blocks.