Juneau board to hear flood update as barrier upkeep costs climb

Juneau's Utility Advisory Board will get an update Thursday on the damage from last month's glacial flood — and on a cost that keeps climbing: keeping the city's flood barriers in place.

The Aug. 13 outburst flood from Suicide Basin damaged 12 of the 186 Mendenhall River homes that were assessed. It was a milder event than last year's, when the river crested at a record 16.65 feet and tore out power and phone lines; this year's crest reached 14.7 feet. City officials now expect that maintaining the HESCO barriers protecting the valley will run more than their earlier estimate of $6 million to $10 million a year.

The board will also take up its annual report, the only real action item on Thursday's agenda.

The size of this year's flood owed a lot to timing. The Mendenhall was running low, around 3.6 feet, when the basin let go, city emergency programs manager Ryan O'Shaughnessy told the Assembly — a sharp contrast with last year, when the river was already at minor flood stage, above 9 feet, before the release even began. Suicide Basin has flooded the valley every year since 2011.