Yukon River ice breaks at Dawson City, flood warning still in place for Klondike

Spring breakup has finally arrived in Dawson City, but the risk of floods in the area hasn't fully dissipated.

Yukon officials rescinded a flood watch for the Yukon River at Dawson after packed river ice started flowing late yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, a flood warning is still in place for the Klondike River. Properties in the Klondike Valley, just outside Dawson, have flooded in recent days after an ice jam on the Klondike caused water levels to rise.

One of those properties belongs toFranny Krivensky, who lives in the Dredge Pond Subdivision. Her yard was submerged early Monday morning.

Krivensky said her friends and neighbours rushed to install nearly 1,000 sandbags to prevent damage to her home.

"They saved my house," she said. "[The water] did not touch the bottom of the floor, so they saved it just in time. They got here just in time."

Jeff Stephenson,chief of the Klondike Valley Fire Department, said water levels may be receding, but they could still fluctuate. That meanshomes in areas hit by flooding aren't in the clear just yet.

"There is a radio frequency, 105.5 emergency channel, that we'll update twice a day to let the residents know what's happening," he said.

Stephenson is urging residents to have an emergency kit and evacuation plan at the ready.

The Klondike flows into the Yukon River near downtown Dawson City. Julia Duschene, with the Yukon government's emergency coordination centre, said the hope is that the ice clearing on the Yukon will help ease flooding on the Klondike.

Ice breaks on the Yukon River by Dawson City

1 year ago

Duration 2:06

The ice on the Yukon River by Dawson City broke Tuesday evening. Andrea Magee caught the event on video.

But she said there are numerous other jams on the Klondike.

"We've seen ice jams all the way from the Dempster Corner right to the mouth of the Klondike at the Yukon River," Duschene said.

"We've got a pretty tenacious jamright at Rock Creek, andthen we've also got an ice jam that's just formed upstream of Rock Creek at Henderson Corner."

Approximately 20 homes along Rock Creek Road and "a handful" of properties at Henderson Corner were affected by the flooding, Duschene said.

Anthony Bier, a senior hydrologist with the Yukon government, said on Wednesday morning that hydrologists would be taking a look at the Klondike River from the air. He said the river seemed to rise overnight and then come back down to where it was on Tuesday.

"We hope that that's a good thing, and that it was able to push through ...hopefully that means that the flood risk on the Klondike has subsided, but we'll confirm it with good visuals from the sky," he said.

More flooding unlikely despite large snowpack

Bier also said that there is little concern right now for flooding elsewhere in the territory in the coming weeks, despite an above-average snowpack in many areas. The latest snow survey report, released early this month, describes how precipitation in April increased the snowpack significantly.

"April is normally a very dry month and while precipitation totals were not particularly notable, the fact that snowfall extended throughout the Yukon to the end of the month was unusual," the report reads.

Bier says that melting snow may cause some localized flooding in smaller creeks in certain areas, but significantwidespread flooding appears unlikely at this point. Still, he said officials are keeping an eye on things, particularly in the White River and Porcupine River basins.

Conditions may also change quickly as the weather warms in the coming days, he said. Some parts of the territory could see temperatures in the mid-20s by next week, according to the forecast.

"There is more snow on the ground to melt with that warm weather and so things are going to rise quickly. Again, I think most areas will see above-average freshet,so the message there is is be careful around the rivers and and fast-moving water," Bier said.

"We don't see any flood risk at this time, but you know, we'll track it every day and see how that changes."