{"id":112474,"date":"2024-09-30T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/home\/building-blocks-toward-flood-prevention-being-sought-by-city-community-group\/"},"modified":"2024-10-04T09:05:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-04T17:05:06","slug":"building-blocks-toward-flood-prevention-being-sought-by-city-community-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/building-blocks-toward-flood-prevention-being-sought-by-city-community-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Building blocks toward flood prevention being sought by city, community group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t

This story has been updated with information from Thursday’s meetings.<\/em><\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Installing a semi-permanent levee along four miles of the Mendenhall River using what are known as Hesco barriers to help protect against flooding from Suicide Basin, being recommended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after a weeklong visit, got a preliminary nod of approval from the Juneau Assembly at a special meeting at noon <\/a>Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The levee and other mitigation measures are being considered by city leaders at the same time dozens of residents affected by record flooding this year have formed a group to consider their own possible action — such as sharing sandbags and arranging evacuation transportation for those in need — and discussed some such possibilities at a subsequent meeting Thursday evening.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Both city leaders and citizens’ group were in recent weeks facing the possibility of another major flood this month, although an expert told the Assembly on Thursday that is now highly unlikely<\/a>. Both groups are also pondering remedies for anticipated flooding next year and the years beyond.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Each say there is a desire and need to work cooperatively, but worry their counterpart might limit or hamper preventative efforts.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“There are some residents who 100% trust that the city is going to have a sound action plan and our neighborhoods will be saved from any potential flood in October,” said Kathleen Rado, a member of the Juneau Flood Fighting, Mitigation and Support Group. “And then there are neighbors, there are residents who do not believe that, that see the issue as so large that we can’t fathom how movement can happen that fast.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\"Kathleen<\/a>

Kathleen Rado (center front), a leader of the Juneau Flood Fighting, Mitigation and Support Group, addresses a neighborhood meeting Thursday night as Deputy Mayor Michelle Bonnet Hale (left), Deputy City Manager Robert Barr (center rear) and city Emergency Programs Manager Tom Mattice await questions from the audience. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

Encouragement for such action when it comes to arranging emergency evacuations was expressed during Thursday night’s meeting by Tom Mattice, emergency programs manager for the City and Borough of Juneau, who said the police and fire departments have limited personnel when responding to a crisis that may involve hundreds of homes.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“The city should not be the first line of resources to call should you need to evacuate,” he said. “Everybody needs to have a personal plan. You need to work with your family, your loved ones, your neighbors, your church, groups such as REACH and SAIL, and others as well.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

However, a concern expressed during a special Assembly meeting last week<\/a> is residents acting on their own could take preventative actions — such as water diversion — that could have adverse impacts elsewhere.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“I know that people in the neighborhoods are forming groups trying to figure out if they need to do things themselves, which then becomes, I think, quite dangerous because then it’s all the sort of the consequences of all the individual actions that might affect the river,” Deputy Mayor Michelle Bonnet Hale said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

On Thursday the Assembly approved obtaining up to 60,000 sandbags from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to distribute to residents in flood-vulnerable areas, plus an emergency ordinance establishing a cooperative agreement with the Corps to begin work on a four-mile levee built from large boxy barricades known as Hesco barriers.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

City officials also announced a new opt-in notification system<\/a> has been launched, which can provide a selectable range of information beyond emergency alerts including public meetings and facility closures.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The Assembly has previously approved $3 million to fund half of a Corps of Engineers study on long-term remedies that could include proposals such as a drainage tunnel through a mountain, $1.375 million to repair and protect public infrastructure, and $400,000 for mitigation planning and updated flood mapping.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The water level in Suicide Basin was at about 1,222 feet as of 2 p.m. Wednesday, roughly the same level as the end of June and beginning of July, according to the National Weather Service Juneau’s monitoring website<\/a>. A full release of water from the ice dam would result in the Mendenhall River reaching a peak of 10.5 feet. While that officially would surpass the moderate flood stage, it would be far below the 15.99 feet on Aug. 6 that swamped hundreds of homes (with the most severe and unanticipated damage coming after the river surpassed the 15-foot level that was the previous record last year).<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Quick decision on using barriers to build levy poses risks either way<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

The primary recommendation of the Corps of Engineers Flood Fighting Team during their weeklong visit to Juneau last week is installing Hesco barriers along the developed side of the Mendenhall River, Koester wrote in a memo presented to Assembly members<\/a> at Thursday’s meeting. The sand-filled barriers have a three-foot-square footprint and are four feet tall, and can be stacked as a pyramid to create higher barriers if necessary.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

As proposed the levee would ultimately be four miles long, with the initial priority being from Marion Drive to Killewich Drive to Meander Way since “this is where the river jumped the bank.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“Depending on the event, we could redirect the flow to the unpopulated side of the river,” she wrote. However, “installation on Marion will present challenges as many of those homes do not have sufficient frontage.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t