Paul Bickford/NNSL photos
Hay River was still waiting for spring breakup as of midday Sunday.
And the breakup of the river which gives the town its name was getting closer and closer to the main part of the community.
The possibility of flooding was looming over the Vale Island area, where the Hay River meets Great Slave Lake.
On April 29, a precautionary evacuation notice was issued for Old Town and West Channel residents on Vale Island due to the risk of flooding.
Early on Saturday afternoon, that was increased to an evacuation alert, which stated that residents of Vale Island should be prepared to evacuate on short notice.
The Town of Hay River/Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) issued an update on Sunday morning.
"Paradise Valley has broken up and levels are very high," it reads, referring to the agricultural/residential area of the community, about 25 km south of downtown. "It appears like there is a jam holding up somewhere between Paradise and the golf course and, when that releases, we will see a rise in water and breaking up of ice in the Hay River area."
At that time, there was movement of ice and breaking up at the Pine Point Bridge.
"The water levels in Hay River are rising quite a bit quicker now with a gain of about a metre overnight," stated the update, released at 8 a.m. on Sunday. "There is water gathering on top of the ice on the West Channel and water levels are rising in that area. The East Channel has seen some snowmelt, but is still holding firm."
The update noted that the evacuation alert issued on May 2 was still in effect, but could move to an evacuation notice within the next 24 hours.
"We are still hoping for the best but planning for the worst-case scenario," the update stated.
An earlier update on Saturday noted the breakup had reached Alexandra Falls, just south of Enterprise.
When the falls broke, the flow over the falls had reached close to 1,200 cubic metres per second.
"At that time, EMO officials released an alert for people to prepare for evacuation," the May 2 update reads. "Hopefully this alert is 48 hours in advance of any activity locally."
The Town of Hay River has established a three-tier system of evacuation from Vale Island in case of flooding.
There would be accommodations in Hay River hotels, in RVs in the parking lot of the Hay River Community Centre and in hotels in Yellowknife.
As of Sunday, there were RVs in the back parking lot of the community centre.
The evacuation plan is based on the extra requirements this year because of the Covid-19 crisis and the need to keep households separate.
There are an estimated 190 households and over 450 people living on Vale Island.
In the past, residents would leave Vale Island and stay with friends and family elsewhere in the community, and the town would operate an evacuation centre to accommodate others.
But an evacuation this year would have to take into account social distancing, as recommended by the NWT's chief public health officer.
"Because of the Covid pandemic, we will be taking steps to move people out sooner rather than later if it looks like flooding may take place," said Judy Goucher, senior administrative officer with the Town of Hay River, speaking on April 30. "Because the orderly evacuation will take longer than under normal circumstances. Everybody can't hop into the same vehicle or carpool or whatever. So we want to keep households intact and our planning allowed to try for that."
The Hay River breaks up in late April or early May each year.
The last heavy flooding on Vale Island was during spring breakup in 2008, and there was a little bit of flooding in 2009 and 2010.
