Resident questions about engineering, safety, insurance linger as storm recovery continues
- Ellie Ruel
- 12 hours ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
Officials share details about navigating the aftermath of Juneau’s record snowstorm
By Ellie Ruel
Juneau Independent
As snow turns to rain, residents are still digging out from a record snowstorm that dumped 82 inches of snow in December and 14.7 inches of snow so far this month.
The total for January is about eight and a half inches above the normal month-to-date measurement, according to head meteorologist Jeff Garmon with the National Weather Service in Juneau. Warmer temperatures and rain may have melted away some snow, but they have also created icy conditions and denser snowpack. Hazards remain as snow still blocks driveways, roads are narrowed by berms and plugged storm drains create localized flooding.
“The roads are treacherous right now, dealing with reduced lane width and snow on ice on the roads, and now, with water on the roads, too,” said Capital City Fire/Rescue Assistant Chief Sam Russell during an interview Wednesday. “If you do have to go somewhere, leave lots of extra time and drive appropriate to the road conditions. Slow is sort of a relative term, but make sure that you're in control of your vehicle all the time, watch out for road hazards. Water on the roadway is a very big hazard. So if you see a big puddle on the road, don’t go full steam ahead into the puddle.”
On Saturday, Russell said conditions are still dangerous and again advised staying off the roads. The warmer weather and atmospheric river on Friday created a “significant slip and slide type situation.” He noted as the weather warms, people may be tempted to get on their roofs.
“We need to be really, really careful about being up on roofs,” he said. “With this warming trend, the roofs are going to naturally drain and the load is going to come off of them fairly rapidly, just through the natural process. And so getting up on your roof is an extremely dangerous way to be as these slippery conditions exist.”
A flood advisory is in place for the Juneau area until Saturday at 9 p.m., according to the National Weather Service Juneau office.
Russell said people should be careful when shoveling the now-dense snow by not picking up too much weight at once. Stretching before shoveling, staying hydrated and taking breaks, and lifting using the legs can help prevent injury and overexertion, according to the Mayo clinic.
Questions at a Thursday Greater Juneau Chamber of Commerce luncheon were compiled from attendees’ roundtable discussions and focused on structure safety and liability. Multiple structure collapses have been reported during the storm, including the roof of a Mendenhall Valley home caving in Thursday afternoon, the unoccupied Bill Ray center’s roof giving way downtown and a karate dojo’s roof collapsing near the airport.
Panelist and civil engineer Nate Geary has been measuring the snowload on his Valley roof almost every day during the storm and posting it on Facebook. He’s been measuring a 1-foot-by-1-foot cube of snow on his roof, shoveling out the patch into a plastic bag and weighing it. His measurements have ranged from 20 pounds per square foot on Sunday to about 41 pounds per square foot on Wednesday.
Current city building codes require structures to be able to carry 50 pounds per square foot, a significant increase from the pre-1991 requirement of 40 pounds per square foot. Mobile homes are federally regulated, and may only have a capacity of 20 pounds per square foot, and smaller buildings like sheds may have even lower capacities.
A CBJ information sheet notes that there wasn’t an active inspection program for buildings until 1980, and structures built before the 1960s did not have to follow a building code since it didn’t exist yet. However, design requirements also include a “factor of safety,” meaning that if a structure is built properly, it will withstand more than the code-indicated limit.
“Remember, if you have an older home, it has probably withstood many years of relatively high snowloads and should continue to do so unless it has lost some of its structural capacity,” the document states.
Geary said the calculated snow weight per square foot was a helpful estimate, but it doesn’t account for factors like surface type, temperature and angle.
“One thing to keep in mind is that the thickness or depth of the snow doesn’t really matter. It varies from structure to structure, how heat loss is coming up out of the building,” Geary said.
When loads on structures get critical, he said there will likely be signs similar to a “check engine light.” Cracks in sheetrock, doors and windows sticking, and sagging rooflines can all be signs of critical snow weight.
In a press briefing Saturday, Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said the city will release an online tool for homeowners to report damages soon, but for now they can email emergencyresponse@juneau.gov.
According to Geary, smooth surfaces like metal roofs can unload snow more quickly than a shingled roof. The grip factor also applies to people climbing on their roofs to clear the snow, with icy surfaces posing a danger.
“Gravity is probably the highest risk. Falling off the ladder, falling off the roof. I'd much rather pay a contractor to fix a crack in my sheetrock than pay a surgeon,” he said.
Asst. Chief Russell noted in an earlier interview that a fall greater than a person’s height is considered a critical trauma, and most roofs are at least 10 feet off the ground. Russell said fall protection and tie-offs are essential when going up on the roof of a structure.
For those less inclined to make the climb themselves, hiring somebody to shovel their roof is becoming a more common practice. Local insurance agents warned against hiring contractors without insurance because of liability issues.
“If an unlicensed person falls, they're basically your employee. And you assume all the injuries, all their lost wages, all their loss of consortium, essentially what we call an unlimited deductible,” explained panelist and Anchorage insurance broker Peter Morris.
Emil Mackey, an insurance agent with Country Financial, added it’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation since most coverage plans also require property owners to prevent damage, and most business owners in the room agreed there aren’t enough licensed contractors in town to dig out properties.
“If you don't hire anybody, and you know, and then your roof collapses, some companies could choose to deny coverage because you didn't take the steps to preserve your property from damage,” Mackey said. “I think everybody needs to weigh the risk and reward.”
It was recommended that residents take steps to document any buildings at risk by taking photos.
“That way, you can see the state of the building before and after,” Mackey said.
Geary said if somebody can’t safely get onto their roof, clearing the eaves can be a helpful first step since it's a structurally vulnerable part of a building and doesn’t receive as much melting from lost building heat. He also said friends have had success melting ice dams by using salt stuffed in pantyhose.
Another topic of discussion was how the local disaster declaration issued earlier this week would be implemented. Denise Koch, CBJ Director of Engineering and Public Works, emphasized that the declaration only authorizes public assistance currently, and not individual assistance.
“There's not an individual assistance bucket open yet. Even if they did open it, it is important to remember that it wouldn't help you clear your roof preemptively, or take care of your driveway. That sort of assistance usually is after the fact,” she said.
To stay informed of evolving conditions, Koch recommended signing up for the city’s emergency alerts. Nicole Ferrin, a warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service, advised residents to check the forecast from the NWSJ website, rather than relying on cellphone weather apps. She said the site offers the most accurate source of weather information, while those apps tend to use faulty modeling that’s ineffective in Southeast Alaska.
• Contact Ellie Ruel at ellie.ruel@juneauindependent.com.
