Glacial Lake Outburst Flooding
I live on View Drive, directly in the line of Glacial Outburst Flooding each summer since 2023.
Our Valley neighborhoods deserve leadership that understands what they are going through.
While this is not the only issue I am running on, I have a strong track record of showing up and speaking up for the needs of residents in flood risk areas.
IN THE NEWS
2026
“We’ve [our community has] grossly underestimated most of these floods by up to a foot or more.”
“Seeing actual brand new construction taking place on the river within feet of the edge of the river. I was curious, that’s a very strange take on disaster management, to encourage more development directly on the riverfront...”
“It seems like these disasters have been severely understated for the last 2 years…a lot of people have been blindsided because of the understatement.”
— 1hr 5min 35sec at: https://www.ktoo.org/2026/07/01/video-experts-talk-timelines-at-ktoos-glacial-outburst-flood-panel/
2024
“Malachi Thorington, a View Drive resident, said that this time last year the Assembly had asked for investigative measures to start and he said virtually nothing has been done at the city, state, or federal levels since last year. He said if people were flooded out in the rest of Valley area, the likelihood that they will have homes to go to before this winter are very slim. He said the construction industry in Juneau was not able to keep up with the demand after last year’s floods and this year’s numbers of impacted homes were ten-fold. He said that we do not have housing for any out-of-town contractors to come in to help repair and build so residents could get back in their homes. He spoke to some of the expenditures by CBJ over the past year which included a $3M grant for the West Douglas Road and $10M loan from Goldbelt for the gondola at Eaglecrest, and commented that CBJ seemed to have money for those things but not to address the threats that were real to the people of our community. He said that there were 300 homes affected this year and if nothing was done before the next flood, it could easily turn into 3,000 homes if the river goes up a few more feet.”
2025
“Malachi Thorington, a View Drive resident, said he is willing to help pay for the barriers even though he is not a part of the LID. However, he and Elizabeth Figus both pushed the Assembly to update the city’s hazard mitigation plan and publish a flood map. It’s something they have been asking for since the first flood in 2023 that damaged their home.
‘At this point in time, it’s unknown if we will qualify for flood insurance,’ Thorington said.”
2026
“‘Their way of handling this [buyout] program appears to be negligent and bordering on dangerous because of how non-communicative and flippant CBJ has been, with the City Manager’s office intentionally not providing appropriate information to the City Assembly,’ Thorington wrote.
He said his goal of making Juneau legislators aware of the situation is related to his broader concerns about the city’s leadership decisions influencing young families to leave the city and state and the possibility of other resources coming up with additional funding for the 25%.
For his home, an informal ballot estimates an approximate assessment amount of $220,000. Homes would be appraised at their 2024 value by NRCS, before a flood peak that year of 15.99 feet. It’s unclear to residents if they would be expected to pay the assessment amount upfront.
‘First and foremost, most people don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars lying around,’ Thorington said.