Officials work on solution to Suicide Basin flooding

Published 10:00 am Friday, August 7, 2026

Flooding from Suicide Basin is a constant concern for Mendenhall Valley residents in the summer. But work is underway that could help to one day ease those fears.

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Adam Telle, assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, held a press conference Thursday morning to discuss long-term commitments for a solution to the recurring threat of the glacial lake outburst flooding in Juneau.

Every summer, Suicide Basin has filled with meltwater from Mendenhall Glacier, which eventually breaches the basin’s ice dam and causes massive flooding into residential areas of Mendenhall Valley. The potentially deadly hazard grows more severe each year.

Sullivan said that the constant flooding poses a unique challenge and situation, and his office has tried to be as transparent as possible.

“The fact that one of America’s capital cities in our country floods every summer, at the risk of not only property but lives — these floods are very risky for just the safety of our own citizens,” he said. “It’s crazy that this is happening every year, and what we need to do is work on a way to safeguard people’s lives and property.”

Sullivan added that he’s been on the ground immediately after each flood from the past three years, and his team in Washington, D.C. is currently working on what he called “immediate solutions,” rather than long-term solutions.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have been working with the community to make the basin barriers taller and wider. Over $45 million has been invested into these efforts.

Sullivan said that he is almost positive that USACE has been in Juneau more than any other place in the country since he was confirmed as senator. Forty percent of pumps in the USACE inventory worldwide have been deployed in the city.

“My colleagues, my fellow Alaskans, they know that federal agencies think like this: ‘Alright, we’re going to do a billion-dollar solution, and it’s going to take 10 to 15 years to study it and do it,’” he said. “No, no, no, no — that’s not appropriate when people’s homes are getting flooded, and once a summer people’s lives are at risk — it’s a miracle that nobody was killed in those floods.”

Sullivan added that the solution needs to be fast, innovative, and continue to move forward.

While Telle also spoke about the USACE’s efforts in Juneau, calling it the “greatest civil engineering entity that humanity has ever known,” he did admit that sometimes it does take too long, and costs too much. He is looking to change that.

Authority and funding will both be used in ways never seen before, according to Telle, in an effort to deal with the flooding phenomena. Sometime after the next glacial burst flooding in August, the Army for Civil Works will be unveiling an unprecedented, never-before-done approach to acquire a new means to evacuate water from Suicide Basin.

Telle credited President Trump for allowing these new safety measures.

“This is all possible under President Trump’s leadership, as he commands us as his administration’s appointees to get creative and solve problems, and don’t be ‘government as usual,’” he said.

“We’re doing this at Trump’s speed, and we’re using all the tools that are available to do this and putting a priority on Juneau — we have a big portfolio across the country, but we understand the importance of Alaska.”