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Juneau residents in the glacial outburst flood zone are preparing their homes for the annual flood expected soon. At a sandbag event in Dimond Park, some of that labor is a bit easier and faster than it was last year.
On Saturday, a steady stream of Mendenhall Valley residents drove up to a grid of wooden pallets with around 40 sandbags stacked on each. The materials are offered free-of-charge by the City and Borough of Juneau and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Ryan O’Shaughnessy, the city’s emergency manager, said the sandbag event looks a lot different for residents this year than it did last year.
“They’d pull in and they’d spend three hours here filling up sandbags, and now it’s — you drive up, and we load a pallet or hand load as many sandbags as we can, and you’re on your way,” O’Shaughnessy said.
That’s thanks to an automatic sandbag filling machine provided by the Army Corps.
O’Shaughnessy demonstrated how to use it. He flicked on a switch and a conveyor belt started rolling. Then he placed an empty white bag under a metal funnel and pulled a lever that dropped sand in the bag until it was about two-thirds full. The conveyor belt carried the bag to another worker who folded over the top and placed it on a pallet.
“Ideally this works best when you have like a team of people, you know, kind of really assembly lining this,” he said.
But in just one minute, the two of them filled and loaded five sandbags. Using the machine cuts down on the time and effort it takes to do it manually with shovels.
Stacking sandbags around a home can be an effective way to limit flood damage when done correctly, according to the Army Corps.
Adrienne and Bob Atadero pulled up to receive sandbags. Bob said he recently had a major surgery and the couple is grateful they don’t have to fill sandbags themselves like they did last year.
“It was a lot of work,” they said.
The Ataderos live on Meander Way, a street that curves around a bend in the river and has been hit hard by flooding in the past.
“We’ve certainly learned a lot,” Bob said. “This is our fourth year going into it. We’ve been flooded three years in a row.”
They bought their home just months before the 2023 flood and said they feel most prepared for it this year. Adrienne said the Army Corps’ industrial-sized pumps on Meander Way have a lot to do with that.
“We are very hopeful this year because we have that pump, and hopefully, you know, if any water gets in the yard, it’s going to be pumped back over into the river,” Adrienne said.
There are seven pumps on their street and more than 40 in the valley total.
The Ataderos said they plan to evacuate this year. But they were home in 2024 when the most disastrous flood tore through their neighborhood.
“It sounds like lightning because (of) the trees breaking and it’s really spooky,” Bob said. “I suggest people not sit and wait to watch this thing. It’s extremely dangerous.”
The National Weather Service predicts that Suicide Basin, the glacial lake responsible for producing the flood, will fill to the top between August 5 and 10.
The flood starts when water pressure in Suicide Basin builds up so much that it bores through the ice and floats Mendenhall Glacier, releasing billions of gallons of water into the suburban valley below. It typically begins within a week after the basin is full, but can happen at any time.
The city and Army Corps are offering free sandbags to residents in the flood zone at Dimond Park every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. until the flood.
Residents can call a non-emergency city hotline with flood-related questions or concerns at 907-500-0890, or email floodresponse@juneau.gov.
