Worried phone calls started coming into the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank in September. People heard that food stamps were going to be cut and some worried about an already tenuous supply of food for their tables.

Starting Friday, hundreds on the Peninsula will see less aid from the federal government to help cover the growing costs of buying food through benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, historically known as food stamps.

Kenai Peninsula Mayor Mike Navarre today declared surface-water flooding across the borough a “Disaster Emergency” and formally asked the state for help.

The flooding, which began mid-September, has affected areas from Seward to Anchor Point by flooding homes, septic systems, wells and washing out roads, which cut off some residents. Heavy rains seen over the weekend drove water levels to the highest seen since the event began and followed a period last week in which the water began to recede.

Following an announcement earlier in the week that Agrium filed for an air quality operations permit from the state, the company said more permits would be required before reopening.

The company’s plans to investigate a reopening of its Nikiski fertilizer plant have not changed, said Agrium spokesperson Adam Diamond in an email.

Once the largest private employer in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Agrium shut down the Nikiski plant at Mile 21 on the Kenai Spur Highway in 2008 saying there was a shortage of available natural gas on the Peninsula.

Kenai Peninsula borough Mayor Mike Navarre implored the assembly to vote on a $43 million hospital expansion rather than delay to satisfy a few citizens who said they had no idea bonds would be issued.

“I believe there are a few people who don’t know we are meeting tonight,” Navarre said to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Tuesday night. “What is it we don’t know now that we will know in two weeks?”