Nahanni Butte, N.W.T., still without fixed access road

Four months after summer flooding, the access road to Nahanni Butte, N.W.T., is accessible for some trucks, but still isn't fixed.

The road sits under a foot and a half of water.

Freeze-up is on the way, which will make getting food and supplies for the winter even harder this year for the roughly 100 people who live there.

People in the remote community are now braving the sunken roadway with their trucks because boating takes much longer.

Steve Vital drives along the long stretch - sticks with orange ribbon mark the route.

"Once everybody figured out you could make it through there with a truck, everybody started using it," he said.

But Earl Hope has a family of 11 that he takes care of.

"Right now, I can't get out. I don't have a vehicle to get through that water," he said.

He parks his truck on the other side of the Liard River boats out to it. The boat rides adds a cold extra 20 minutes to the journey, plus the extra cost of fuel.

Then Hope drives 320 kilometres to Fort Nelson, B.C., to buy food and supplies.

"Everything got harder to get. The food got harder to get, everything got harder because our winter road's under water," said Hope.

Now, the river is beginning to freeze over and people are starting to pull their boats out for the winter. With ice forming on the sunken road, people in Nahanni Butte will be cut off sooner than usual

"Right now is when we need it. There's no water so we can't boat out," says George Tsetso, who was the first to risk driving the flooded road in his 4x4 truck.

For now, residents of the community are stuck waiting until freeze-up until they can use this stretch of road comfortably. The materials required to fix the road aren't slated to arrive until January.