Paul Bickford/NNSL photo
There were no signs of flooding on Vale Island early on May 5 after that area of Hay River had been evacuated the night before because of spring breakup.
"No reports of flooding," texted Glenn Smith, the assistant senior administrative officer with the Town of Hay River, in response to an enquiry from The Hub.
The town issued an evacuation order because a large volume of water was heading towards the community, indicated by a reading of over 1,200 cubic metres of water a second going over Alexandra Falls south of Enterprise.
At that time, there was ice in the Hay River from the Pine Point Bridge to Great Slave Lake.
On the night of the evacuation, deputy mayor Robert Bouchard explained that it was voluntary.
The river in the vicinity of the town was still full of ice as of midday on May 5.
"The evacuation order is still in effect as of this time," stated an update from the Town of Hay River/Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. "There is still high water and ice to come, and there is still fear of flooding."
The update added that EMO personnel were monitoring the situation and would continue to advise of conditions as they developed.
Residents who evacuated were assigned accommodations at Hay River hotels, at an RV park set up in the parking lot of the community centre and at hotels in Yellowknife.
That evacuation plan is designed to keep households separate from one another because of the Covid-19 crisis.
There are an estimated 190 households and more than 450 people living on Vale Island, which includes West Channel and Old Town.