The state of Alaska is collecting input from Juneau residents hit by glacial outburst flooding in 2024 to help decide how a $6,051,588 federal grant will be spent.
That flood, which occurred before the city put up a temporary levee along the river, inundated nearly 300 homes in the Mendenhall Valley overnight, forcing people to evacuate through the ice cold water. Floodwater destroyed people’s belongings along with flooring, drywall and some home foundations.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, allocated the funding in January after the state submitted a plan outlining the recovery and mitigation needs remaining in the community.
Brandon McNaughton is the state of Alaska’s program coordinator for the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief Program. At a public meeting at the Mendenhall Valley Public Library on Thursday, he surveyed people to see what sorts of projects the money should pay for.
“In talking to folks here so far, I think the number one has been like homeowner recovery, and that includes homeowner repair, potentially lifting foundations,” McNaughton said.
To be eligible for homeowner recovery, residents must verify disaster-related damage. According to the state’s plan, the funds can also go toward things like relocations and buyouts, repairing or protecting community infrastructure and projects to mitigate future floods.
McNaughton said these are last resort funds. He also said they’re not meant to be duplicative — so the funds usually can’t add on to existing projects the federal government has already allocated money to.
“All other avenues of funding are supposed to be exhausted before we use these,” he said. “So if that’s already ongoing, through other funding, like, we probably wouldn’t be able to fund it.”
As of Thursday, the state has received nearly 60 survey responses. McNaughton said his office is accepting responses through April 20.
The state plans to submit a list of projects to HUD for approval this summer. McNaughton said he hopes to start distributing the funds within a year.
But some residents hit by glacial outburst flooding won’t qualify for homeowner recovery funds through this grant.
Ann Lind lives on Marion Drive, where her home backs up to the Mendenhall River.
Her crawl space flooded last year when a culvert failed and water pooled behind the HESCO barriers that make up the temporary levee the city installed.
“In ‘24 the barriers obviously weren’t there, and our backyard got flooded away,” Lind said. “The fence went, the hydro-seed that we put in five days before the flood went — everything went. It did not reach our house.”
Since her house didn’t flood in 2024, state staff and contractors at the public meeting told her that she’s not eligible for this pot of funding.
State funding for the 2025 flood was available for residents to apply for individual assistance after Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared it a state disaster. The deadline for that passed last October.
