Two years ago, John Lowrey woke to the roar of water surging into his home. The 65-year-old retiree and father of five rushed toward his basement just as a 3-foot wave slammed through the door, tearing it from its hinges.
Water crashed through his bay windows, drowning the family’s piano and heirloom cedar chests. His 29-year-old daughter piled family photos on a bed until it started floating. The inundation ruined documents, appliances, and insulation, and repairs cost the family $150,000. “We lost everything,” Lowrey said.
What Lowrey didn’t know then was that the flood that wrecked his home would return the following summer. And the summer after that.
Alaska is warming at two to three times the global average, and the changing climate poses a particular risk to Juneau. Since 2011, meltwater and rain collecting in a basin beside the Mendenhall Glacier have periodically flooded neighborhoods along the Mendenhall River. For more than a... Read more
