As the threat of the next glacial outburst flood looms over Juneau, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it will pay for repairs to the flood wall in the aftermath and a bipartisan federal bill that would accelerate a long-term solution heads to the U.S. Senate.
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The Water Resources Development Act passed out of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works committee on July 15. At the committee hearing, Sen. Dan Sullivan said it would speed up paperwork at the Army Corps.
“We are cutting right through the red tape to fast-track a permanent engineering solution for Juneau, Alaska, which is currently preparing for yet another devastating glacial lake outburst flood,” he said.
Late last year, the Army Corps through Bullard Mountain that would continuously drain Suicide Basin so it can’t hold enough water to flood the suburban Mendenhall Valley below. The Army Corps initially estimated it could take roughly 10 years to start construction. It’s unclear how much quicker it would go if this bill passes into law.
The bill hasn’t been scheduled on the Senate floor calendar yet, but a spokesperson for Sullivan said in an email to KTOO that his goal is to get it passed through the Senate before Congress takes a recess in August.
Local leaders and many residents have voiced support for the tunnel solution, including valley resident David Morris. On a sunny Saturday, Juneau city employees filled his truck with a pallet of free sandbags he’ll use to try to protect his house.
“My view has always been, if you drill the hole, you don’t have a problem,” Morris said. “You don’t have all this ugliness all over. That is my opinion.”
Morris moved into his aunt’s former home on View Drive this winter. The cul-de-sac is a peninsula jutting into the Mendenhall River and has been hit hardest by repeated flooding. It’s also been left without the protection of the flood wall constructed by the city and Army Corps.
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A federally sponsored buyout for View Drive might be on the table, but Morris said he doesn’t plan to leave. He and others on the street who want to keep their homes have said a long-term solution is their best option.
Juneau City Manager Katie Koester said the Water Resources Development Act would be an important milestone. But she said Congress would still need to appropriate funds for construction.
The next glacial outburst flood is expected soon. The National Weather Service predicts that Suicide Basin will fill to the top between Aug. 5 and 10. The flood typically starts within a week of the basin filling, but it can happen at any time.
The Juneau Assembly cancelled a special committee of the whole meeting scheduled for this week due to the urgency of flood preparations.
Koester said the agenda would have included an announcement of more aid from the Army Corps. She said that the Army Corps will pay for repairs to the flood wall, made of HESCO barriers, following the next glacial outburst flood.
“What it means is that on Sept. 1, I don’t need to come up with $6 million to repair those HESCO barriers in a big hurry,” Koester said.
She estimates that repairs will cost between $6 and $12 million per year. This year, repairing and raising Phase 1 of the flood wall cost the city an estimated $14.8 million, which Koester said is too big a burden for local taxpayers to repeatedly face.
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“That exceeds our local ability to manage,” she said.
The Army Corps did not respond to a request for comment in time for this story.
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