Auxiliary managers urge many residents of the capital of Alaska to evacuate as summer glacial floods driven by climate change threatens to flood the area.
Authorities say that floods of the river Mendenhall will probably crest east on 13 August or 8 p.m. on 13 August or 8 p.m. They hope that they stop two miles of emergency flood barriers that they admitted last month, the waters of Mendenhall Valley, where a majority of the 32,000 full -time residents of Juneau live.
“Residents are advised to evacuate the potential flood area,” said City and Borough or Juneau officials in a message 12 August. “Don't go close to the river.”
Government Mike Dunleavy has also issued a preventive disaster statement, referring to the destruction caused by “icy eruptions” in both 2023 and 2024.
From noon Alaska -time on 12 August, the Mendenhall River in Juneau had risen to 10 feet deep of its usual level of approximately 5 feet, crossing to “moderate” flood stage area, the National Weather Service reported. The record set last year is 16 feet deep and predictors say that the river could surpass that.
Predictors estimate that 14.6 billion liters of water were released during last year's flood, enough to fill more than 22,000 Olympic swimming pools, according to the Weather Service. Floods in previous years have flooded cellars, destroyed infrastructure and collapsed buildings near the river banks.
An icy eruption like this occurs when an IJsdam stops a lake – in this case suicide basin – collapses from the summer heat and releases the water in a short period. Suicide Basin is part of the Mendenhall Glacier, a popular tourist destination that is easily reached at Juneau.
Federal scientists say that climate change ensures that the glacier melts faster, along with changing rainfall patterns, making the danger worse. The first recording of the glacier eruption happened, according to the National Weather Service.

This photo of August 6, 2024, supplied by the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, shows the size of floods caused by the eruption of the Mendenhall Glacier, which takes place in 2025 around 12-13 August.
Because the floods have been a growing concern for Juneau in recent years, city officials with federal aid in the federal flood barriers have installed along a few kilometers of river banks in the areas that are supposed to be the most. Although the new barriers have been designed to stop a stream of this potential size, civil servants have asked residents to evacuate as a precaution.
In comparison with the rest of the country, Alaska has warmed up twice as quickly in recent decades and the average annual temperature has risen in the last century 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Federal National Centers for Environmental Information.
This article originally appeared on USA Today: 'Glacial Outburst' threatens Alaska City, asks evacuations