At least one house has fallen into the Mendenhall River in Juneau after the Mendenhall Lake surpassed historic levels. The lake is fed by water coming from the Mendenhall Glacier and a geological feature called Suicide Basin, where water builds up and occasionally releases in a dramatic fashion.
Footage of the Riverside Drive house crashing into the river has been making the rounds on social media. (The video appears to have originated with Juneauite Sam Nolan.)
That lot of land is surrounded by others that are seeing erosion to their house foundations, including a condominium. The Zillow report for this house set the value at over $700,000.
Due to the flooding, Alaska Electric Light & Power has cut power to View Drive, Meander Way, and Stream Court. Earlier in the day, power was shut off at the Mendenhall Campground.
The City and Borough of Juneau Emergency Operations Center asks residents of Marion Drive to evacuate for the night due to the unstable situation along the bank. The city has closed the bridge on Back Loop Road, as well as the Dimond Park footbridge.
More information about this flood incident can be found at the National Weather Service at this link.
According to the National Weather Service, the Mendenhall Lake gauge continues to rise at just over 0.2 ft per hour and is over major flood stage.
“A glacial dammed lake release is occurring into Mendenhall Lake and River. Mendenhall Lake exceeded the previous record high stage of 12.0 ft at 12:30pm AKDT Saturday. The lake continues to rise and was at 14.7 feet at 9:15pm AKDT. Significant flooding with water being reported in areas that previously have not seen flooding is occuring. Significant bank erosion has been reported as well with at least one structure lost to the river. A forecast crest of around 15.0 ft is expected Saturday evening near 11:00pm. This forecast is uncertain as it is unknown how much water is left to drain out of Suicide Basin,” the agency reported.
“Inherent uncertainty in drainage efficiency and basin levels will result in varying crest height and timing. Please check back for updates as this event unfolds. The frequency of images has been adjusted to three times daily for monitoring. Images from the entire 2023 season can be viewed here.“
As Bill Yankee would say, “Tough nougies for them”.
…current events…
Off the market.
Opening scene of the new Al Gore movie.
A river always finds its way.
Insurance adjusters are looking for recoverable firewood.
When that house was built, it probably was a good distance from the river. The erosion is intense.
Eventually every house along that row will either fall in or need massive structural reinforcement.
I’m not gonna cheer the misfortune of others. But hopefully there’s a lesson to be learned here.
The not so funny part is CBJ Emergency Manager Tom Mattice is completely inept at his job. The fact Juneau does not have a Hazard Mitigation Plan means (been expired for a decade +) it is ineligible for FEMA funded projects other that Emergency Protective measures and debris management (Public Assistance Category A & B) . SO in short words they can’t ask for federal $ to help their residents in the form of the FEMA Individual assistance program.
When I was a kid, there would be some dynamite going on to drain that thing before it destroyed people’s homes.
Robert, your’s is a good point. It would be FEMA or the Corps of Engineer’s (the water is navigable) responsibility to manage that water build-up.
Not seeing any link to any video here.
Video is embedded in story, is a video posted on Facebook. – sd
I’m still not seeing anything resembling a link to the mentioned video in this story, Suzanne. Nothing whatsoever.
A lesson to be learned for all you who build those fancy Expensive $$$$ houses on ANY river’s Edges. You must understand Mother nature will always have Her moments.
The home was quite far from the river edge. There was a forest separating the home from the river–with 200-yr old spruce and hemlock.
I’d say that $734,800 price tag is a little generous, considering its present condition!
What a jerk comment. This flooding far exceeds anything that has ever occurred and these people had no reason to expect this. Some of them have lost everything.
Why are they living next to a river. It’s just like while touring the rabbit creek estates why they living on a ridge, some of those houses literally are balancing on stilts teetering over the edge just looking like its waiting to slide down the steep incline. Or those living at Turnagain why they living on a liquidating sandy bluff. Or the home alone the coastal trail why they living along silty muddy mud flats. What’s wrong with them. That’s not where I’d live. Build your home on bad ground and expect and brace for what comes cause this home isn’t our home, trouble is just around every corner.
Lesson: Don’t build near rivers
It would depend upon the river, yes? If the river banks are 100-ft high solid rock (Grand Canyon) perhaps it would be okay.
Makes you wonder about the lenders who financed this neighborhood. Surely the insurance companies stayed clear.
To prevent futtre catastrophes I suggsst the USCOE exsmine the possibility of controlled release of water from Suicide basin by use of engineered explosive removal of the glacial blockage. It would be much like avalanche control. And, before any leftist responds, I contend that removing this threat to the community ranks far higher than any intrinsic value of a receding glacier.
To prevent future catastrophes I suggest the USCOE consider controlled release of water from Suicide Basin by explosive removal of the glacial blockage; much like avalanche control. Before any leftist responds, I contend removing this threat to the community ranks far higher than any intrinsic value of a receding glacier.
you are barking up the wrong tree. Dunleavy is suing the feds for ownership. Why should the COE do anything to mitigate issues on state waters?
As of 2013 from aerial imagery at the CBJ GIS property map site, for the house in question, the wall closest to the river was some 130 feet from the river’s edge and for the immediate property upstream its wall was some 140 feet from the river’s edge.
Wow!!
Based on numerous recent stories on this site, the absence of on-the-spot reporting from the Juneau Vampire was understandable. Still, I looked around the Facebook page of this “Crude Mag” and found the name to be entirely apt. Are you sure you want to lead readers in their direction? I really couldn’t find anything which would appeal to the typical MRAK reader.
They had the video, and it was definitely newsworthy. – sd
This event was a jokulhlaup. Icelandic for: glacial outburst flood. In Iceland they learned 600 years ago not to build houses on banks of rivers that can swell from a jokulhlaup. Juneau might figure this out 600 years from now. But, probably not.
Missed by all of the comments above the fact that on this day in Juneau it wasn’t RAINING!
Rivers and Glaciers advance and recede , rise and fall, but a beautiful partly sunny day in Juneau, now that’s news!
I am guessing it was worth it for all those years of having a view property overlooking a beautiful river.
The city collected lots of rent to park that beautiful structure there which I am sure paid for many parties for the Elite.
It really is rocket science.
The rock walls on both sides of the grand canyon have been there for a long time
The sandy silty banks of the mighty matanuska river not so long
The banks of the mendenhall river not so long
The cliffs overlooking the colorado river will be there a long time if someone has the urge to be at the waters edge(for a long time)
Those of you who are commenting about how you would have known better than all the meteorologists and building engineers and joking about this are no better than the gawkers who gathered to watch others’ misfortune. I know it’s fashionable to rag on Juneau (because supposedly everyone here is a stupid liberal who asked for whatever bad stuff happened😒) but the reality is that this event was not precedented, not predicted with scientific methods, and it is devastating to lots and a lots of people. Engineers vet building projects like these before they are built and many of these people were told “no, you don’t need flood insurance, your not in a flood plain.” Look up aerial imagery of this area from just ten years ago and then consider that these old, expensive houses are from decades before that. In addition, so many people now have water damage inside their homes, blocks away from the river. They are going to be dealing with mold growth and a house albatross around their neck in future. Two of the condos with multiple families inside were condemned.
Have a little humility and compassion. For instance, you could go give funds to the single mom who just got her twins home out of the NICU in Anchorage only to have her home now condemned.
Reading some of these comments, I must say I am disappointed. Here are fellow Alaskans, who have lost or are about to loose their home and a significant part of their possessions and all you can muster is “sucks to be you” or some sanctimonious rant about not building near rivers/mudflats/steep inclines. Let’s not forget that this isn’t some lonely patch of earth in the middle of nowhere. This is Juneau and it’s surrounding area, which has zoning boards, engineers and bureaucrats, who assessed this strip of land to be suitable for building and approved permits for construction. Yet they clearly failed to protect life and property with appropriate mitigation efforts, be it bank reinforcement of spillways. This is clearly not a new problem, as the river bank appears to have eroded for years. Have a little compassion for the plight of these Alaskans, who are paying the price for the incompetence of those, who are supposed to manage these things.
I’ve lost everything before and was sleeping on a mat in homeless shelter. I bet none of these folks are sleeping on a mat on the floor of a homeless shelter. I would have more sympathy if it were a trailer park. Tornados, wildfires and earthquakes (in that order) victims get my utmost sympathty. Hurricanes and flooding victims not so much. These people knew where they lived. Maybe you should extend more concern for the folks living on upper Haystack Dr. right now.
So you are saying that those who work hard and achieve a certain standard of living deserves less sympathy? Well you are entitled to your opinion. I just find it reprehensible to be unkind to people, who are in crisis, whether they sleep on the floor or not.
Interestingly what about the people living in tornado alley, what makes that more special than people living near rivers that flood?
There are CONDOS that are condemned, each with at least six families in them. Do you have any idea what property in Juneau costs? A lot of these people are stretching just to afford a condo with no yard because the alternative here is renting forever or living in a trailer court. We have friends in one of these condos, young hardworking adults, who are still being required to pay their mortgage on a house that no longer exists for them. Stretch your imagination for one second and imagine how that could affect your life. And get off your self-righteous soapbox.
You are over privledged, spoiled and conceited.
Now that was uncalled for!
Sadly such a statement says more about you than ECG and only highlights that you appear to be jealous. The attributes you ascribe to others seem appropriately applied to you as well.
Too
Bad
A lot of new construction has taken place in this area over the last decade. I see lawsuits coming after the dust settles and reality sets in. Meanwhile, the climate change drum beating intensifies.
this is so sad. i feel terrible for all of those affected. even more upsetting are the unkind, insensitive remarks that people are making.
There is a home in Sutton Alaska along the Matanuska river that used to be on 80 acres far from the rivers edge when the now deceased couple purchased it. To see it now empty and dangling over the edge only goes to show that building next to any river or the ocean for that matter is not a good decision in the long run. 200 feet is a drop in a bucket! So horribly sorry for the tragic loss of this home.
Oh come on! How long ago was that house build? 40, 50 years ago? By your logic we need to tear down all of Anchorage and move it to Willow, so that in 100 years it will not be close to the ocean. Nature isn’t static. It changes all the time. Even the continents move (hence earthquakes).
There is nature and then there is avoidable/mitigable disaster like this one, where a spillway or other drainage along with bank reinforcement could have made a difference in preventing this explosive discharge of water into the river.
I had an interesting conversion once with an engineer regarding a local river getting very close to the road. He told me that environmental concerns prevented him from dropping rocks into the river to stabilize the bank, but once the road was flooded or undermined and collapsed, he could dump all he wanted to fix it. Wonder if the same attitude befell the Juneau powers that be.
Ugh, spell check strikes again (or I need more coffee and better glasses). It’s a “conversation” instead of a “conversion”. Sorry
Mother Earth, within her realm, shall trump human existence every single time.
Be it flood, famine, quake, or fire, we can only exist so long as a singular existence, without adapting unto the befallen results of Mother Earths resilience, and ever-changing reality.
The Sahara has enjoyed ages of jungles and rainforests as well as sand.
The Arctic has enjoyed ages of jungles as well as ice.
We have nothing to do with it, historically speaking, but only live within it, from our miniscule portion of said time.
The hubris of those that insist that we humans have some control over Mother Earth is an abject failure, within that whilst we may destroy ourselves, we cannot destroy Mother Earth, and of that, we really cannot destroy any other being beyond ourselves, as life shall prevail, beyond our control of it, as it always has been, and always shall be.
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