Residents in the northern Alberta community of Chateh, west of High Level, could be out of their homes for several months after flooding forced them to evacuate Sunday and Monday. 'This is the worst flooding we ever had,' Dene Tha' First Nations chief says.
Samuel Roberts, 65, and Mark Elson, 51, said they were not prepared to be lost along the shore of Great Slave Lake when they headed out for a short fishing trip. But it became smoky and foggy, and the men became disoriented. The following day, when the air cleared, Roberts said they couldn't recognize anything. "We had no idea that we crossed over the Dettah side and [were] headed to the East Arm," said Elson.
"There's basically people all over the place," Fort Simpson, N.W.T., Mayor Sean Whelly said on Monday morning. A general evacuation order was issued for the community of about 1,200 at about 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
CBC News hasn't been able to reach people in Jean Marie River on Saturday, but Paul Simon was able to find cell phone service on a drive and posted photos of the flood waters on social media.
The couple had been watching water levels rise and fall all day, waiting for them to go down like usual. They'd finally started to relax, when the knock came. They were out of time.
Floods, caused by spring river break-up on the Liard and Mackenzie Rivers, have forced residents of the N.W.T. communities of Fort Simpson and Jean Marie River to evacuate. CBC's Eden Maury surveyed both communities from the air on May 10.
The news brings some relief for communities from Quesnel to Williams Lake and south to Cache Creek, but local governments are maintaining numerous evacuation orders and alerts issued since waters began to rise.
Debris torrents and blockages, possibly triggered by a rainstorm high in the watershed, caused Mill Creek to overflow, flooding homes and streets.
Spring is still months away in the Northwest Territories, but people are already looking ahead at the spring breakup season. In Aklavik, some see signs that could point to heavy flooding, a lot of snowfall, very high snow piles all over town and thick ice.
As breakup season creeps closer, the town of Hay River, N.W.T, is preparing for a possible flood during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Some welcome new visitors have recently appeared in a southeastern Alberta park — otters.
Shimmering mountain lakes will start to show new colours in coming years, new research suggests.
The remote community of roughly 600 people has been on flood watch for about a week and is the latest of several communities in the Northwest Territories to be affected by historic flooding on the Mackenzie River, caused by the spring breakup.
After a summer that saw high water levels and even higher concentrations of metal in two N.W.T. rivers, water testing is showing a return to normal, and a limited impact on local wildlife.
Unusually heavy rains in Lapland have caused water levels to rise near flood levels, and further rises will depend on temperatures over the next few days, with climate change being a contributing factor.
The sale of fishing permits has been suspended for two sites where water temperatures have risen to critically high levels, especially for salmon.
Heavier rains and aging distribution networks are triggering more cases of public water supply contamination. The local utility takes water from the Esse River for processing and distribution. Because of recent heavy rains and strong runoff, it contains an unusually high level of solid matter.
The last time the water levels were this high in some places was in the late 1990s or early 2000s. According to the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), floodwaters will likely spill onto fields and roads in parts of southern and western Finland, but not into buildings.
Emergency measures organization has issued advisories for Upper Liard, Carmacks and Ross River areas.
First trucks made week-long pitstop on river bank due to overflow on newly completed winter road. On the first attempt to cross the overflow, a truck’s front tires went through approximately eight inches and the vehicle had to be towed out, in the report. No one was hurt, and there was no damage done.
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