For the third consecutive year, a wave of water gushed out of an Alaskan glacial lake, threatening the state’s capital city of Juneau. But, flood barriers installed by the city managed to prevent disaster from unfolding in the picturesque port town despite record-breaking water levels this week.

Newly installed river barriers held back record levels of flooding and prevented widespread damage in Alaska’s capital city on Wednesday, after an ice dam at the nearby Mendenhall Glacier released a huge surge of rainwater and snowmelt,

Glacial lake outburst flooding is a flood that's produced by the quick, unexpected release of water from a glacial lake.