Officials say new barriers protected against the kind of major damage inflicted during last year’s destructive Suicide Basin release, though high water inundated numerous areas.

A huge basin of rainwater and snowmelt dammed by Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier has started to release, sending a potentially record surge of flooding toward parts of Juneau.

Because the flooding has been a growing concern, city officials have installed emergency flood barriers along several miles of riverbanks.