More than 100 homes in Juneau, Alaska, were damaged by flooding this week after a glacial lake overflowed, sending surging water to nearby neighborhoods in what has become a recurring problem for people in the state’s capital.
Summer flooding is an annual concern for people who live near the Mendenhall Glacier, which last year unleashed flooding that swept away trees and homes, including two buildings that collapsed into the Mendenhall River, which flows through parts of Juneau.
This year, the river crested even higher than in 2023, when the water reached a record-setting 14.97 feet. On Tuesday, the water reached a peak of 15.99 feet at 3:15 a.m. before quickly receding hours later.
Alaska’s governor, Mike Dunleavy, said on Wednesday that there had been no deaths or severe injuries reported. But the damage to homes and buildings was extensive. After the flooding passed, many of those affected spread their belongings on their lawns to dry out in the sun while assessing the damage.
The governor declared a state disaster emergency because of the flood on Tuesday and said in his statement on Wednesday that the damage “is significant and is affecting hundreds of Alaskans.”
The swift rush of water took many residents by surprise. Weston Holland said he woke to water on the floor of his home early on Tuesday and as he tried to figure out what was happening, saw the front door of his house break, sending a “wall of water,” inside, according to KTOO, a public radio station in Alaska.
“It went from just a couple inches on the floor to about my navel in, I would say, about a minute and a half. It was just coming in quick,” Mr. Holland said. “And with that much time, the only thing you can think about is getting everybody out.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the water levels had returned to normal, the National Weather Service said.
Officials in Juneau warned residents last week that Suicide Basin, which is on the Mendenhall Glacier, had filled and reached a threshold that meant floods were possible and that people who lived near Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River should prepare for evacuations.
On Monday, as the basin released water, city officials told residents in certain neighborhoods to find shelter away from their homes for the night.
Since 2011, these type of warnings have become a regular occurrence for people who live in the area, which is vulnerable to a type of flooding known as a glacial lake outburst flood or jokulhlaup, an Icelandic word usually translated as “glacier leap.”
This flooding happens when Suicide Basin fills with too much rain and water melting off the Mendenhall Glacier, putting pressure on the ice dam created by the glacier and sending the overflow of water into the lake and river. The water quickly drains out of the basin, which city officials said was like what happens when the plug is pulled from a full bathtub.
There are 15 million people around the world who are exposed to potential glacial lake outburst floods, according to a study published in February 2023 in the journal Nature Communications. The study, by scientists at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, said that these floods can arrive with little warning and be highly destructive.
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