Aklavik residents watch closely as ice breaks, waters rise

As spring breakup causes waters to risearound Aklavik, N.W.T., residents are bracing for a possible evacuation to Inuvik.

Aklavik is home to about 600 people. Billy Storr, the hamlet's deputy mayor,told CBC Thursday afternoon that water was about a foot from being level with the dump road.

"Once we have no access to that dump road, we're on a sewage pump out. Once we lose that service, then we declare a state of emergency," said Storr.

"Then we have a process where all the elders and young newborns, their moms and people with health issues are evacuated."

Spring flooding wreaked havoc this year on communities in Northwest Territories' Dehcho region, and forced evacuations in the South Slave. A state of emergency was declared in Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., on Tuesday as waters rose there.

Now, residents inthe Beaufort Delta are watching to see if they'll be pushed out, too.

Some, like Ellen Firth, are already seeing water reach their front door.

Firth is at camp close to Horseshoe Bend, about 40 kilometres from Aklavik.

At about 6 a.m. Thursday, said Firth, ice and water started coming over the bank, spilling into her yard.

"We're safe in the cabin, but it's not worth going anywhere. There's too much water coming over the banks," she said.

Similar flooding happened a few years ago, so Firth was prepared, having moved her skidoo and other belongings to higher ground.

The last time waters rose like this, "we were choppered out," she said.

Right now though, "there's kind of nowhere for a chopper to land, but maybe we'll check it out in a bit and see if we could move some of that ice in the yard and try to get out."

In the event of an evacuation in Aklavik, residents can go to the arena in Inuvik.

"Aklavik's done a very, very good job preparing," said Grant Hood, Inuvik's senior administrative officer. "They go through this almost every year."

Hood said the hamlet has been in contact with airlines North-Wright Air and Aklak Air. The territorial Department of Municipal and Community Affairs is also helping with evacuation preparations.

Water levels in Aklavik seemed to have lowered over the course of the day. Since the morning, water had dropped about six inches further from the dump road since the morning, said Storr.

Hood said the region isn't seeing "anything outside the normal," but added, "you just need one event to happen that can change the whole thing.

"But Aklavik's on it. They know what they're doing over there."