Juneau residents dry out homes after Mendenhall River flooding

"Every room has water in it and mud," Debora Gerrish said at her home on Emily Way in Juneau's Mendenhall Valley, several hours after the Mendenhall River had receded from record flooding on Aug. 6. "Everything on the floor is destroyed. I'm trying to save my grandmother's hope chest from 1913."

A similar glacial outburst flood last year only filled the ditches on her street, though it did knock down several residences along the river. But this year's flood saw the river crest more than a foot higher, resulting in an unexpected deluge of water into numerous homes on Emily Way and other neighborhood streets shortly after midnight.

Residents in more than 300 homes damaged by the flooding are trying to salvage and repair what they can, with the assistance of a multitude of government, nonprofit and private groups.

On Aug. 8, people who signed up at a volunteer center operated by the United Way of Southeast Alaska were on their way to the Gerrishes' home. "We're still trying to get stuff out of rooms that are soaking wet," she said. "We've lost thousands of dollars worth of books." On Aug. 8, she was still trying to dry out the hope chest.

She said she is familiar with the reason why her house flooded - the break of an ice dam at Suicide Basin, a process known as a jökulhlaup that's occurred annually since 2011. However, the Mendenhall River's peak level of 15.99 feet this year was notably higher than last year's then-record 14.97 feet, which far exceeded the previous record of 11.99 feet in 2016.

Jessica Nardi, another Emily Way resident, was pulling out her damaged belongings to her sunny lawn the afternoon after the flooding. She said her first floor was flooded and their cars stopped working. The extent of her damage to drywall and needed repairs is still being assessed.

"We're very lucky though because we're safe and we have family and friends who can help," Nardi said.

Another Emily Way resident, Maggie Nolen, was asleep in her basement apartment when she said she heard the water gush under the door. She said in total there was three to four feet of water inside. At that point, her car was already trapped and she couldn't evacuate.

She had time to grab her necessities and valuables and move upstairs to her landlord's living quarters. In the morning, Nolen said her car started - although it spewed water from the exhaust pipe and its floorboards were "sopping wet."

Her landlord, Abner Miller, said the basement is a total loss. The garage also flooded. He said he works for the city's engineering department and he would like to see more preventative measures taken in the future. He said his long-term plan for repairing his residence will depend on how the city responds.

Volunteers were matched with residents in need or assigned to general cleanup work. Brenna Heintz and Molly Barnes helped run the volunteer center. They were displaced last year following the 2023 flood. They live in condominiums along the river. They said they didn't lose any property, but lost access for a few months due to the foundation being washed away.

"I want to help people because I know exactly what this feels like," Heintz said.

A total of 40 Alaska National Guard members were deployed as part of the emergency response efforts.

"On arrival they will focus on debris cleanup, flood recovery operations and distribution of supplies to the community in support of the local incident commander," a National Guard statement said.

The deployment is part of a wider state response after a disaster declaration by Gov. Mike Dunleavy within hours of the river receding from its peak level.

State disaster relief for people affected by the flood is limited to $21,250 per person/household for housing repair and an additional $21,250 for personal property damages. Approval of federal disaster relief would raise those limits to $42,500 for housing assistance and $42,500 for other needs.

The next - and much bigger - question is what options might exist to prevent future disasters, especially since local climate and weather experts have stated large-scale glacial outburst floods are likely to be a more regular occurrence in Juneau due to climate change. The experts said Suicide Basin will literally disappear as a threat some years from now as the glacier continues to recede, but similar basins with ice dams are likely to emerge.

"We have already reached out to the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers (about) an engineering solution to this problem," Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said after touring the area Aug. 8.

"We can't have it that Juneau has this problem every summer," he said. "That's just not sustainable."

Last year's flood, also during a record river level at the time, damaged about 40 homes, including three that were partially or completely destroyed.

Climate change has caused Alaska's glaciers to recede dramatically. Suicide Basin, once covered in ice, now fills with rain and meltwater each summer at a rate of roughly 1,900 gallons per second, said Jason Amundson, professor of geophysics at University of Alaska Southeast.

The basin has been a hazard for Juneau residents since 2011, but its scale is hard to fathom. It's as long as four cruise ships sitting end to end, said Eran Hood, a professor of environmental science at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. The basin is roughly a third of a mile wide, he said, and hundreds of feet deep.

There is bedrock on three sides - the fourth side is the Mendenhall Glacier itself.

Jason Amundson, professor of geophysics at University of Alaska Southeast, said modeling suggests that water bores a tunnel through the glacier each summer to find an outlet. Once it does, the basin rapidly drains, which can cause the Mendenhall River to rise dramatically. Each winter, the tunnel appears to reseal, ready for the basin to fill up again, Hood said.

A time lapse camera shows how the ice-capped basin has filled with water since April. Steadily, ice and water rise hundreds of feet over months, before it drops dramatically - emptying the enormous body of water.

The Anchorage Daily News contributed reporting for this story.