Sad News From Juneau, Alaska Today

[www3traveler]

Today a piece of the Mendenhall Glacier broke loose and caused major flooding along the Mendenall River near the airport.  So far, all I have read says that homes have been destroyed.  Have not seen anything yet about loss of life.  What this will mean for cruise ships, I do not know.  I would suspect that a number of tours could be canceled because of the flooding and Mendenhall Glacier may not be acessible or safe.

Edited August 6, 2023 by www3traveler
correct spelling

[SoloAlaska]

Thank you for posting this I hadn’t seen the news yet. Was actually reading an article about tourism issues long term at the glacier this morning.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the info.  I hope everyone is okay.

[bluesea777]

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/glacial-break-causes-major-flooding-alaska-destroys-structures/story?id=102056193
 

[Jimbo]

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/glacial-break-causes-major-flooding-181331808.html

 

Amazing shot of a large house falling into the over flowed river.

[barbeyg]

Wow!  Thanks for sharing. 

[smokeybandit]

All the more reason to just go on cruises if you want to be on the coast, not buy a house next to water

[sandebeach]

Just watching the video on national news. 

[debenson0723]

@bluesea777thank you for the link.

[cruiselvr04]

We were just at the glacier last week. It rained steadily the whole day we were there.

 

 It’s always sad when people lose their homes. 

[SomewhereGirl]

That is sad.  Two years ago I did the NCL Mendenhall Lake canoe excursion.  It was one of my favorite Alaska shore excursions ever.  The lake was so calm.  Who knew what was happening above the glacier.  Nature is wild and powerful.  Since the water would've come down from the mountain, across the lake to the river, it's probably a good thing this happened at night.  Sad for the locals dealing with the aftermath.

[flamingos]

47 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

We were just at the glacier last week. It rained steadily the whole day we were there.

 

 It’s always sad when people lose their homes. 

 

I was wondering if this was from extraordinary rainfall, or unusual glacial melt.  They are saying it was 3 feet above the record high water mark.  😞

[Bruin Steve]

I'll be on Quantum in two weeks...supposed to stop in Juneau...wonder how this affects that?

[Sunshine3601]

Wow!  I sure hope those homes and the red condo building had been evacuated.   

[gottagoacruzn]

Yes, saw that on an article earlier today. Thought oh no. What a shame.

[KSprite01]

Oh no! That’s so sad. I used to live on Mendenhall Loop Road. 

[Anita Latte]

13 hours ago, flamingos said:

 

I was wondering if this was from extraordinary rainfall, or unusual glacial melt.  They are saying it was 3 feet above the record high water mark.  😞

 

Apparently, it is a phenomenon that happens ever year, typically once or twice. They call it jokulhlaup, which is Icelandic, because this is also something that is observed in Icelandic glaciers. A very good description of how the seasonal glacier release and consequent flood waters is here for anyone interested:

 

https://alaskapublic.org/2020/07/28/a-glacial-dam-near-juneau-could-burst-any-time/

[flamingos]

6 minutes ago, Anita Latte said:

 

Apparently, it is a phenomenon that happens ever year, typically once or twice. They call it jokulhlaup, which is Icelandic, because this is also something that is observed in Icelandic glaciers. A very good description of how the seasonal glacier release and consequent flood waters is here for anyone interested:

 

https://alaskapublic.org/2020/07/28/a-glacial-dam-near-juneau-could-burst-any-time/

Thank you, but this seems a bit more extreme than typical.  😞

[Anita Latte]

42 minutes ago, flamingos said:

Thank you, but this seems a bit more extreme than typical.  😞

Oh it’s definitely extreme. Feels like this event is what that article from 2020 was warning about. Like the article says, it’s an annual

phenomenon, but conditions in Suicide Basin have been worsening and so one of these years, it would be much worse. The previous “worse” one was 2016 which has been referenced in all news accounts.

[pussycat803]

oh my! We're going to be in Juneau near the end of this month. I've been waiting to do dog sleds on the glacier (can't remember if it's mendenhall or a differrent one) for a few years now. Hoping that won't be affected. We've rebooked our cruise dates just to get a date when dog sleds are done.

[Coral]

2 hours ago, pussycat803 said:

oh my! We're going to be in Juneau near the end of this month. I've been waiting to do dog sleds on the glacier (can't remember if it's mendenhall or a differrent one) for a few years now. Hoping that won't be affected. We've rebooked our cruise dates just to get a date when dog sleds are done.

Dog sledding on glaciers is usually over by mid-August. Every year is different but when the snow is gone, it is done.  You may want to contact your vendor and ask them when they anticipate being done with it.

[Froufie]

Anyone know what the status of the Juneau port stop is right now?

[pussycat803]

On 8/9/2023 at 5:02 PM, Coral said:

Dog sledding on glaciers is usually over by mid-August. Every year is different but when the snow is gone, it is done.  You may want to contact your vendor and ask them when they anticipate being done with it.

We actually rebooked our cruise to an earlier date just so we could get the dog sleds booked. We haven't heard of any cancellations so im assuming we're still good.

[cmmaxwell03]

47 minutes ago, pussycat803 said:

We actually rebooked our cruise to an earlier date just so we could get the dog sleds booked. We haven't heard of any cancellations so im assuming we're still good.

Not sure what port you are leaving out of, but I was able to get a helicopter ride and dog sled tour out of Anchorage in early September with Alaska Helicopter Tours.  We are flying into Anchorage a few days before the cruise leaves out of Seward.  

[Northern Aurora]

5 hours ago, Froufie said:

Anyone know what the status of the Juneau port stop is right now?

 

As someone who lives in Alaska, I am not aware of any changes in cruise ship port calls.

 

I also hope that folks realize that these floods from Suicide Basin have occurred annually since 2011.  The science behind these floods is interesting but this last event was clearly much more extreme than in prior years.