Mansion and Apartment Complex Collapse Into Alaskan River After Intense Flooding
A large home fell into an Alaskan river this week as flood waters from a collapsed glacial dam eroded the shoreline over just six hours.
The incident occurred Saturday, as millions of gallons of floodwater barreled through Juneau’s Suicide Basin, which rests within the Mendenhall Glacier. Time-lapse footage recorded by witness Sam Nolan shows the increasing devastation. "It was really sad to see, but all we could do was stand there and watch," Nolan told ABC News.
When the video begins, the white house is shrouded in tall pine trees. As water courses down the river, tree after tree drops off the shore and floats down river. As the trees around it are entirely cleared, the home becomes visible.
The footage then speeds up to show groups of people streaming out of the buildings on either side of the house. At first they simply watch the devastation, but as time passes they can be seen racing in and out of their respective buildings. Some are carrying items and small children. Eventually, there’s no activity in any of the structures.
The land under the home had eroded so significantly that half of the house is dangling in mid-air. That’s when it swiftly collapses into the water, sending dust and debris into the sky. It pancakes into the water, instantly evaporating and leaving no sign of itself. By the end of the video, the apartment building next to the house begins to disintegrate as well.
Shockingly, weather analysts had anticipated only a one percent chance of the catastrophic flooding. “We didn't even think that this was possible,” Aaron Jacobs, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Juneau, told ABC.
Though water levels are decreasing, officials have issued an emergency declaration in Juneau. The city has also dispatched teams to investigate homes which may not be safely occupied.
