Juneau Assembly approves emergency funds for flood recovery, lays out plans to investigate flood mitigation

Water continues to roseate on nan Mendenhall River during Juneau’s yearly glacial outburst flood connected Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)

On Monday evening, Juneau Assembly unanimously passed an emergency resolution, freeing up much than $1 cardinal of metropolis backing for much flood consequence and betterment aft nan record-breaking glacial outburst flood earlier this month.

Most of nan money will spell toward debris removal, arsenic good arsenic repairs to nan Mendenhall Wastewater Treatment Plant and nan metropolis stormwater system, but $150,000 will spell toward studying ways to forestall catastrophic flooding successful nan future.

Juneau resident Elizabeth Figus said her location connected View Drive has flooded 2 years successful a row. She testified astatine Monday’s meeting, and said she’s disappointment that nan metropolis didn’t do much after last year’s devastating flood. 

“I did witnesser nan metropolis and each of you connected nan Assembly do a batch of manus waving and make a bid of statements connected nan grounds that mitigation would beryllium excessively costly aliases excessively difficult,” she said. “So I’m very heartened to perceive that immoderate existent mobility is hopefully taking place.”

During nan meeting, lawman City Manager Robert Barr laid retired immoderate ideas for flood mitigation.

A mates propose tackling nan problem astatine its source. A small much than a decade ago, nan accelerated retreat of nan Mendenhall Glacier owed to human-caused ambiance caused 1 information of nan glacier break disconnected and recede, which revealed a rocky slump known as Suicide Basin or K’óox Ḵaadí Basin. Dammed by nan remaining terminus of nan Mendenhall Glacier,  nan basin fills pinch rainfall and meltwater each twelvemonth until it drains, causing flooding downstream successful nan Mendenhall River.

By creating a bore spread done nan mountains, it whitethorn beryllium imaginable to proactively drain h2o into Nugget Creek. It was besides suggested that nan basin could beryllium filled successful pinch rock, truthful that it would not cod h2o successful nan first place.

Barr said different ideas see modifying Mendenhall Lake. Draining immoderate of nan existing lakewater could perchance make room for nan basin drainage adjacent year, aliases immoderate operation of dikes, dredging and pumping could power and slow nan travel of h2o arsenic it moves from nan reservoir to nan river.

Another anticipation is to dredge caller channels for nan Mendenhall River, to let h2o from Suicide Basin to drain to nan water much quickly than it does correct now.

People thief pick-up trash from their flood damaged homes connected Emily Way connected Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)

None of these options person been studied extensively, and each travel pinch awesome technical, financial and ineligible challenges. Both nan basin and nan reservoir are connected U.S. Forest Service land, truthful immoderate modifications to them would beryllium taxable to national permitting processes. And each of these options would person multi-million-dollar budgets which would apt require national backing to cover. Barr said that national projects for illustration this usually return years.

“If we want to spot measurable action, thing that useful towards nan extremity of prevention and mitigation by adjacent year, that is thing that tin only beryllium done via governmental mandate,  really astatine nan congressional, national level,” he said.

Though an enactment of Congress is possible, it is unlikely, and it would require unprecedented governmental unit from nan Alaska delegation. Barr said immoderate mitigation that nan City and Borough of Juneau does prosecute could beryllium a liability.

“When we alteration thing successful nan earthy environment, whether it has to do pinch flooding aliases landslides aliases different earthy disasters aliases imaginable earthy disasters, we person to struggle pinch that challenge, ” he said. “When we alteration something, we whitethorn beryllium liable for nan imaginable antagonistic impacts of that point that we changed and nan imaginable unintended consequences” he said.

Assembly personnel Christine Woll expressed uncertainty that nan metropolis could propulsion immoderate mitigation task earlier that happens, aliases earlier flooding happens again.

“I conscionable interest that we are mounting mendacious expectations for our organization members who are going to person to beryllium making decisions soon astir what to do astir their properties,” she said. “I’d for illustration to beryllium proven incorrect that there’s a solution retired there, but my gut tells maine location isn’t, connected immoderate timeline earlier nan strategy changes completely.”

As nan Mendenhall Glacier continues to recede and thin, nan crystal reservoir connected Suicide Basin will yet disappear, though it will return decades. But scientists opportunity location is different spot, further up nan Mendenhall Glacier, wherever a glacial reservoir could shape successful nan early and create a full caller root of flooding. 

In a missive to nan U.S. Army Corps of Engineers connected Monday, nan City and Borough of Juneau and nan Central Council of nan Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska projected a moving group made up of section experts, Federal agencies and members of nan Alaska delegation, to proceed investigating imaginable mitigation measures.