River erodes road by airport

Observation by Jeffrey Luther:

Slowly but surely the erosion is eating away the bank near the runway. There was very high water on the 14th. Now there is new permafrost exposed in the cut bank near the airport road curtain. There is also a new area of bank overhang, exposed as the water receeded. The old landfill area hasn't been affected too much, I hope there isn't too much debris to pick up after breakup season, so far we hauled +/- 116 cubic yards of debris in the fall cleanup projects from below the old landfill eroding into the river, I measured trailers, and let the crew count loads of debris hauled into the current landfill.

LEO Says:

It's striking to see the erosion and ongoing impacts to key infrastructure. See the sidebar for additional posts and observations shared over the past ten years.

AI Comment from GPT 4.1:

This observation adds to a decade-long pattern of riverbank loss and infrastructure impacts in Noatak. The recent high water event on June 14 is reflected in Erosion results in loss of revetment wall (June 2025), which documents the destruction of the cement pillow revetment wall, a protective structure designed to limit bank erosion. Similar high-water-driven erosion has been noted in Erosion continues along Noatak River (August 2024) and Rain continues to impact Noatak River (August 2023), where persistent heavy rain and high river flows led to significant bank retreat—up to 91 feet by the old landfill, and more than 112 feet at another measured point. The risk to both the old landfill and essential roadways has been ongoing: River erosion threatening old dump site (June 2022) and River erosion threatens road (May 2022) both highlighted the urgency as the riverbank rapidly approached community assets. These connected posts underline that repeated episodes of high water—often following late summer rainfall (Extreme High Water on Noatak River, August 2012)—continue to drive severe erosion, challenging protection efforts and cleanup responses near key infrastructure and former waste sites.