Over 100 homes in Alaska’s capital Juneau have been destroyed by a glacial dam outburst that occurred north of the city making it an increasingly frequent phenomenon worsened by climate change.
The flooding had started on Monday night after water overflowed from the glacial lake at Suicide Basin, which fills with rainwater and meltwater annually. It is usually dammed by the retreating Mendenhall Glacier and if enough water fills the basin, it can burst through or overtop the ice damming it in.
The National Weather Service had said that the overflow had crested at about 3 a.m on Tuesday, with the Mendenhall River rising at 15.99 feet. However, by Wednesday, the river’s levels had dropped back to normal.
Meanwhile, local authorities have warned residents near the river to take precautions and open a local school as a shelter. At press time, no injuries have been reported according to the City officials.
The flood had come almost a year after a record-breaking glacial dam outburst at Suicide Basin caused similar flooding.
Note that the Mendenhall River crested at 14.82 feet in 2023 according to a report by the National Weather Service.
The risk of the glacial dam bursting has been heightened due man-made climate change. This changes cause glaciers to retreat and this has increased the number and size of glacial lakes.
The U.S. Geological Survey has been monitoring the Suicide Basin since 1965 but it was not until July 2011 that the first glacial dam outburst was recorded. Since then, the basin has burst over 30 times, according to data collected by the National Weather Service.
