SUTTON -- The mad Matanuska River, swollen from melting glacier ice, is gnawing away property north of Sutton, putting the Glenn Highway and several homes in the area in danger.

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With continued warm weather, the water levels are predicted to continue rising, adding more power to the river's erosive force.

Last week the water crept into Colleen Boyle's yard, overtaking a small woodpile and creating a shallow pond that attracted a duck and her hatchlings. Next door, at the home that belongs to the Kuoppala family, a channel of water surged through the forest, its gray water sweeping around an old outhouse and a small, windowed shed.

Boyle, who has watched over the Kuoppala house since patriarch Eino Kuoppala died last year and his wife relocated, said the river was raging worse than she'd ever seen. She's been watching the river a while; her family moved to the property in the 1940s.

"I can stand on my deck every night and hear trees going in," she said. "When we were kids, we used to be able to walk for a long time before we'd get to the river."

Forrest and Betty Blubaugh bought their land 15 years ago, never suspecting it would one day be riverfront property. They were near the river, sure, but they never suspected it would be a threat.

"I didn't buy on the river, it was a mile away," Forrest Blubaugh said.

Now the river is about 40 feet from their back door. The couple has called borough officials, state officials and anyone else they can think of, but the outlook is grim.

The federal funding sources the borough tapped in 2006 to buy three properties in the area threatened by erosion have since dried up, borough planner Frankie Barker said. There's no more buyout money and, with the economic recession still grinding on and oil prices relatively low, little hope of help is on the horizon.

Barker said she's working on plans that would classify some stretches of the river corridor as hazardous. She also successfully pressed the Alaska Real Estate Commission into requiring sellers to list whether land they were selling was at risk for erosion.

That doesn't help the Blubaughs or Boyle, however. Nor is there much likelihood of putting in dikes or other structures to physically protect the couple's home from the river.

"We don't have the money to do any structural things," Barker said.

Boyle said she's looked into flood insurance, but it takes 30 days to begin coverage. Maybe she'll have to sandbag her property to keep the water at bay, she said.

But there's no guarantee the sandbags would be enough to stop the river.

State floodplain coordinator Taunnie Boothby said homeowners who have flood insurance may be eligible for grants to help them move their home or relocate altogether, but they must be insured to take advantage of them.

Boothby estimated insurance in Alaska averages $673 a year, although she said flood insurance on commercial property is included in that statewide estimate.

The only other option for Boyle seems to be to move and leave her family's longtime home behind. Selling isn't really an option; the river's encroachment means the property value is in the tank, so she wouldn't get much for it.

The Blubaughs said they tried to sell their home and leave the river behind two years ago.

They had a buyer lined up, but then the borough declared their shoreline part of an erosion zone and the deal fell through.

Now Forrest Blubaugh said he and his wife aren't sure what to do either.

For them moving isn't really an option. They live on Social Security and don't have the money to buy a new home.

"Where could we go? We have no relation or anybody up here. I'm 77 and my wife is close to it. We're getting long in years," he said. "This is our last stop."

Find Daily News reporter Rindi White online at adn.com/contact/rwhite or call her at 352-6709.

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