I Zoomed in to last Monday’s CBJ Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting. The Assembly discussed current actions to mitigate the glacial outburst flood (jökulhlaup) hazard in the Mendenhall Valley.<\/p>\n
It appears the city will spend $400,000 to “study” what areas might be impacted. The CBJ may also contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a matching fund basis for $3 million to do some form of flood mitigation at some undetermined time and location(s). Perhaps big sandbags.<\/p>\n
It was noted that Suicide Basin – the source of the flood waters – has refilled halfway back to the level existing at the time of the Aug. 5 flood. We might suffer another flood this year. That sounds like a crisis. The Assembly’s response? I did hear that fire engines might drive around the Valley.<\/p>\n
If ever there was an emergency in Juneau, this is it. We need to implement flood control measures in the Valley. We need a bonafide evacuation plan with all associated resources, personnel and money.<\/p>\n
Who will stand up for Juneau and demand action? We don’t need regulatory gobbly gook and a five year wait for an EIS. Get on the phone, get on a plane to D.C. and get Congress to free up funding. Put some heads together and design a flood control system. Line up some contractors and get to work.<\/p>\n
Property values of homes that cannot be sold are wiping out family savings. Lives are at risk. Get moving, Mayor Weldon. Somebody, please, take the lead.<\/p>\n
Frank Bergstrom<\/p>\n
Juneau<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I Zoomed in to last Monday’s CBJ Assembly Committee of the Whole meeting. The Assembly discussed current actions to mitigate the glacial outburst flood (jökulhlaup) hazard in the Mendenhall Valley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":112135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,8],"tags":[97,106],"class_list":["post-112134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters","category-opinion","tag-letters-to-the-editor","tag-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\n