Advertisement.
The Town of Hay River and NWT government each say most of the region’s flood danger this year appears to have passed.
Hay River was devastated by a flood in 2022.
This year, low water levels and favourable spring conditions have combined to give the town some relief from natural disasters.
Wildfires forced two evacuations of Hay River last summer. While another wildfire remains a threat, the huge burn areas from 2023’s fires do offer some protection this year.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Beyond that, the town’s run of extraordinary bad luck means a meteor strike or some kind of Godzilla-like monster can’t be ruled out.
“We’ve had a rough few years,” Mayor Kandis Jameson acknowledged last week. Referring to three evacuations in 15 months, she added: “Hopefully we don’t have to do that in the near future – or ever again.”
At least flooding looks like it can be scratched out for the year.
“There is very little risk at this time,” the town declared on Facebook late last week, describing the ice on the Hay River as “steadily reducing” with little to none left south of the Alberta border.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“The Hay River upstream of Alexandra Falls and into Alberta is mostly ice-free. Most of the ice has melted out rather than having pushed downstream,” the NWT government’s hydrologists said in a Saturday update.
“While some ice remains downstream of the falls and close to town, this ice is generally not cause for flooding concern.”
Elsewhere, the GNWT says river ice is “generally intact” on the Liard and Mackenzie rivers, though open-water sections are growing on each river and the ice is beginning to shift in places.
“On the Liard River and on the Mackenzie River at Fort Simpson, water levels are slowly rising under the ice, but the rates of increase are small,” the GNWT reported.
Breakup has not begun in earnest in more northern areas of the territory.
The Peel River will be closely watched in the weeks ahead. The river has a higher water level than usual and its basin experienced higher-than-average snowfall over the winter.
Fort McPherson, which sits on the Peel, suffered flooding last year.
