8 residents, 7 pets evacuated after Tetagouche River ice jam floods street

While the southern part of New Brunswick deals with flooding along parts of the St. John River, some residents in theChaleurregion are having to deal with ice jams on two rivers.

Ice jams are on Middle River and TetagoucheRiver, bothoutsideBathurst, N.B.

• Water levels continue to rise along the St. John River outside of Fredericton

Ken McGee, regional management co-ordinator forRestigoucheandChaleurregions, says eight residents on Elliot Lane in North Tetagouche asked to leave their homesSaturday after the water level from the ice jam onTetegoucheRiver covered a section of the road.

"The water levels rose to a point with the ice jam where they said 'we want to get out but we can't get out because there's approximately 100 metres of roadway was covered with water.'"

McGee said it was not safe for anyone to walk or drive out so the residents called for help.

"What we did was an excellent operation and co-ordination between various agencies."

With the help of the St. Anne Regional Fire Department, RCMP, Department of Energy and Resource Developmentand the BathurstFire Department with their rescue boat, McGee said the eight people, three dogs and four cats were evacuated.

"All are with family and friends."

But those living onMathildaStreet are waiting it out, hoping the ice jam will soon move so their street is no longer a river with four feet of water covering it along with a fast current.

"The jam has caused the river to divert itselfontoMathildaStreet itself. The water's no longer flowing on the river, it's actually flowing on the street, going in the woods and then diverting itself back into the river again," said McGee.

On standby to help

McGee said while the residents chose to stay, EMO is in continuous contact with them and ready to assist with evacuation if they ask.

"They choose to remain there. This is almost a yearlyevent, they're used to it."

McGee said the ice jams remain on both rivers with no sign of either moving.

"Of course, we have rain coming and temperatures are above the freezing mark so that will have an affect on the ice."

McGee said the ice will either move downriver eventually or not move and rot in place and if it rots in place there will be no change on the roadways for both locations. Both remain closed and theice jams will continue to be monitored

• Road closures continue on Day 3 of St. John River floods

Meanwhile in Edmundston, the city's EMO co-ordinator,Jacques Doiron said the water levels were going down and the St. John River hadstabilized.

"It's looking good for our region at the moment."

Doiron said the one home that was evacuated needs to be evaluated before the residents can return. He added city staff are checking roads and bridges as well.

Two road in the area remain closed, including Route 144. "That will be closed for a longer period of time because you have a complete washout of the road there," Doiron said.

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