At approximately 0100 EST, the Suicide Basin of the Mendenhall Glacier above Juneau, Alaska released enough water to cause the Mendenhall River and Lake to overrun the banks and cause major flooding throughout Juneau.
By 0200 EST, the Mendenhall River had reached historic draft levels. This quick release of glacial melt caused severe erosion of the riverbank and the collapse of at least one structure into the river.
This afternoon in Juneau, Suicide Basin broke in Mendenhall Glacier, causing Mendenhall River to flood. pic.twitter.com/nSuge2xQa3
— Crude Magazine (@crudemag) August 6, 2023
Here is a timeline of the flooding:
Mendenhall Lake reached a record level of 12.03 ft at 1230L The lake continued to rise and was at 12.28 ft at 1315L. As of 1900L., the Mendenhall Lake gauge is at 13.09 ft. This breaks the previous record of 11.99 ft recorded in 2016.
At 0200 EST, or 2200L Mendenhall Lake reached a gauge reading of 14.66ft, triggering an even greater flood warning for the Alaskan capital. As of 0215 EST residents of the state capital had been told to evacuate.
The CBJ emergency operations center recommends residents of Marion Drive evacuate overnight due to concerns of potential bank failure that could result in quick overnight land wasting.
— CBJ (@cbjuneau) August 6, 2023
There have been no confirmed deaths or injuries at the time. This is developing.
