Juneau city and tribal officials announced a preemptive disaster declaration Friday in anticipation of the glacial outburst flood expected to hit the Mendenhall Valley soon.
Ku.seen Jacqueline Pata is the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s first Vice President. At a press briefing, she said declaring a disaster before the flood could expedite recovery efforts, such as financial aid applications with the state.
“Being ahead of the curve really makes a big difference,” she said.
The tribe has already ratified the declaration and the Juneau Assembly will hold a special meeting next Friday at noon to do the same.
The city and tribe have ramped up their communication with the public ahead of this year’s flood, compared to previous years. Ashley Heimbigner, the city’s communications and engagement director, said that’s a response to feedback from the public.
“For better or worse, we’ve had folks that lived through this last year, and they knew what information our residents were looking for, where we were lacking in terms of quick response with that information, and so it gave us sort of a workbook of how to do better this year,” she said.
Nicole Ferrin is the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Juneau. She says that Suicide Basin — the glacial lake that will soon release the flood — is nearly full.
“Based on recent mapping by [University of Alaska Southeast] that were up there just a couple days ago, it has about 15 feet before it will be actually overtopping the ice dam,” Ferrin said at the briefing.
She says that in the past, it has taken between one and six days for the flood to release out of Suicide Basin after water flows out over the top of Mendenhall Glacier.
All agencies are on high alert because the basin can release at any time, no matter how full it is.
