An estimated 290 homes were damaged by flooding from Alaska’s glacier-capped lake

About 290 homes in Alaska’s capital were damaged last week by flooding from a lake dammed by the Mendenhall Glacier, officials said.

In addition to homes and condo and apartment units, at least two businesses were damaged, Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said in an email.

The threat of this type of flooding has become an annual concern in parts of Juneau, although the extent of last week’s flooding, which reached further into the Mendenhall Valley, was unprecedented, officials said.

The flooding occurs because a smaller glacier near the Mendenhall Glacier has retreated, leaving a basin that fills with rainwater and melts each spring and summer. When the water builds up enough pressure, it forces its way under or around the ice dam created by the Mendenhall Glacier, entering Mendenhall Lake and eventually the Mendenhall River.

Since 2011, the phenomenon has sporadically flooded streets or houses near the lake and river, but the impacts of this year’s and last year’s floods have been significant. The river crested last Tuesday at 15.99 feet, the National Weather Service said, beating the previous record set a year earlier by about 1 foot.

The state has an assistance program that can help with the costs of repairing damaged homes, with a maximum for an individual or family of $21,250. Other programs, including help to replace essential items such as clothing, and temporary housing assistance for residents displaced by the floods. Barr did not have an estimate of how many people will need such help.

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Alaska flood