JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — The Alaska Organized Militia, in partnership with the City and Borough of Juneau, the Tlingit and Haida Tribal Emergency Operations Center, the State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and the State of Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management State Emergency Operations Center, is actively engaged in a coordinated effort to collect and remove disaster debris in the aftermath of the recent glacial outburst flood. The debris includes household garbage, furniture, construction and demolition materials, sheetrock, and other non-hazardous waste.

As of Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, Joint Task Force-Juneau, comprised of 59 service members from the Alaska National Guard, the Alaska Naval Militia, and the Alaska State Defense Force, have successfully removed more than 2,000 cubic yards of debris from approximately 370 homes in the Mendenhall Valley. This area was severely impacted by the glacial outburst flood that occurred Aug. 5-6, which resulted in peak water levels of nearly 16 feet.

This activation marks the largest response by the Alaska National Guard and the Alaska Organized Militia to a domestic disaster since the Typhoon Merbok response across Western Alaska in 2022.

  Alaska, cleanup, juneau, militia