The capital of Alaska is predicted to see moderate flooding due to a glacier dam outburst

News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 21st October 2024

A glacier lake in the capital of Alaska erupted on Saturday, prompting the issuance of a flood warning. Overlooking Juneau, the Suicide Basin is a side basin of the Mendenhall Glacier. It has been releasing glacial lake outburst floods annually since 2011, resulting in flooding along the Mendenhall River and Lake.

Nicole Serrin, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Juneau, stated that moderate flooding, not significant flooding, is what we anticipate from this event. According to her, residents had 24 to 36 hours to get ready for flooding. Up until Monday, the flood warning was in force.

According to the weather service, the river was expected to crest early that day at a height of approximately 3.35 to 3.5 meters. Authorities advised people to avoid the river. The banks are extremely slick due to recent snowfall.

As the spring and summer months bring in rains and snowmelt, the basin eventually accumulates enough pressure to push its way out through the channels it creates beneath Mendenhall Glacier. Serrin noted that throughout the past few months, fall rains have begun to replenish the basin. The speed at which it would drain and whether it would empty entirely were unknown.

The lake caused flooding to enter neighborhoods in August, causing damage to an estimated 100 homes and a few businesses. According to officials, the water level pushed deeper into the Mendenhall Valley when the Mendenhall River peaked at 4.9 meters, setting a new record and surpassing the level of the storm last year by around a foot. The only ways to get to Juneau, a city of roughly 30,000 people in southeast Alaska, are by boat or airplane.