example

components.sortable-list.js

import Ember from 'ember';

export default Ember.Component.extend({
  initSortable: function() {
    var refreshed = false;
    var _this = this;

    this.$().sortable({
      axis: 'y',
      update: function(event, ui) {
        Ember.run.scheduleOnce('afterRender', this, function(){
          var id = ui.item.data('id');
          var idx = Ember.$(this).children().index(ui.item);
          Ember.$(this).sortable('cancel');
          _this.updateItemOrder(id, idx);
        });
      },
      start: function() { // event, ui
        if (!refreshed) {
          _this.$().sortable('refreshPositions');
          refreshed = true;
        }
      }
    });
  }.on('didInsertElement'),

  destroySortable: function() {
    this.$().sortable('destroy');
  }.on('willDestroyElement'),

  updateItemOrder: function(key, idx) {
    var items = this.get('items');
    var item  = items.findBy('id', key);
    this.beginPropertyChanges();
    items.removeObject(item);
    items.insertAt(idx, item);
    this.endPropertyChanges();
    alert(JSON.stringify(items.mapBy('word')));
  }
});

controllers.application.js

import Ember from 'ember';

export default Ember.Controller.extend({
  model: function() {
    return Ember.Object.create({
      items: [
        {id:1, word:'hello'}, 
        {id:2, word:'world'}
      ]
    });
  }.property()
});

templates.application.hbs

{{#sortable-list items=model.items as |item index|}}
  <div data-id={{item.id}}>{{index}}&nbsp;{{item.word}}</div>
{{/sortable-list}}

templates.components.sortable-list.hbs

{{#each items as |item index|}}
  {{yield item index}}
{{/each}}

twiddle.json

{
  "version": "0.4.0",
  "dependencies": {
    "jquery": "https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.3/jquery.js",
    "ember": "https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/ember.js/1.13.5/ember.js",
    "ember-data": "https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/ember-data.js/1.13.5/ember-data.js",
     "jquery-ui": "https://code.jquery.com/ui/1.11.4/jquery-ui.js"
  }
}