In 1962, more than 30 homes were damaged in an avalanche in a Juneau subdivision. In 2008, a huge set of avalanches severed the town’s connection to its biggest source of hydroelectricity. And just this winter, city officials went door-to-door in the Behrends Neighborhood telling people to evacuate their homes during unprecedented avalanche conditions.
How did Juneau develop into a city with what some experts have called “unacceptable” risk for urban avalanches?
How a Juneau subdivision came to be at ‘unacceptable’ risk for a destructive avalanche
Before there was a Behrends neighborhood, the avalanche path that goes through it saw slides big enough to level forests. It will happen again someday.
At home in an avalanche path: Why Juneauites buy and keep homes in a hazard zone
Decades of studies have pointed to the very real possibility of a big, destructive slide in this Juneau neighborhood’s future. But a mix of personal choices and policy decisions keeps people in at-risk areas.
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