Receding Mendenhall Glacier causes flash flooding in parts of Juneau, Alaska

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Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Receding Mendenhall Glacier causes flash flooding in parts of Juneau, Alaska For the fourth year in a row, the receding Mendenhall Glacier has caused a flash flood in a river that cuts through a densely populated part of Juneau, Alaska. National Receding Mendenhall Glacier causes flash flooding in parts of Juneau, Alaska August 14, 20264:44 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Alix Soliman Receding Mendenhall Glacier causes flash flooding in parts of Juneau, Alaska Listen &middot; 2:33 2:33 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5929581/nx-s1-9887149" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript For the fourth year in a row, the receding Mendenhall Glacier has caused a flash flood in a river that cuts through a densely populated part of Juneau, Alaska. Sponsor Message Transcript LEILA FADEL, HOST: Residents of Juneau, Alaska, are relieved after a flood from a glacial outburst crested Thursday afternoon without causing major damage. Glacial melt caused by climate change fills up a pool every year until it bursts out into the suburban valley below. Then in 2024, about 300 homes flooded. Last year, the city raised a temporary flood wall that just barely held. Some 50 homes were damaged. But this summer was different. The flood crested lower than it has over the past three years, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. At a press briefing Thursday evening, Chalyee Eesh Richard Peterson, president of Tlingit and Haida, the local tribe, called the event anticlimactic. CHALYEE EESH RICHARD PETERSON: I think we're experiencing a collective sigh of relief in Juneau, and especially those in the area impacted. Ann Lind (ph) lives next to the river. She says she had been anxiously waiting for the flood. Last year, her home flooded when drainage pipes failed and water leaked through the city's flood wall. ANN LIND: For months, it was like this slow-moving bullet coming straight at me. Didn't know if it was going to be a hit or a miss, and today, it's a miss. The city and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers extended the flood wall and built it higher this year after the record-breaking flood in 2025 flowed over the top in some areas. Now, this is the second year in a row that View Drive residents were left without the protection of the floodwall since officials say the soil on that street is too unstable. Residents there say they saw damage as they have every year. But Mandy Mallott (ph), who lives at the end of View Drive, says her home was spared. MANDY MALLOTT: The emotions that are running through us, a big sense of relief and thankfulness to our friends and our neighbors. city that deals with this danger. Around 2,000 homes were in the evacuation zone this year. Glaciologists say that human-caused climate change created this event. As the Mendenhall glacier melted, the pool grew to release more water. But eventually, the glacier could retreat so much that the pool disappears. That could take an estimated 25 years. In the meantime, the Army Corps is considering a long-term solution to drain it. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. 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