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.

Mendenhall River crested at a record-setting 16.65 feet deep as of 7:15 a.m. Alaska time (12:15 Eastern), and began to empty, according to National Weather Service experts. The water level had fallen to about 8.

New sandbag-style barriers installed along a river in Alaska's capital city held back record levels of flooding and prevented widespread damage after an ice dam at the nearby Mendenhall Glacier released a massive amount of rainwater and snowmelt downstream,