Marsh Lakers won’t relive 2007: officials

Emergency response officials will be buying more sandbags as predictions continue for another year of flooding at Upper Liard, southeast Yukon, beginning in early June.

Emergency response officials will be buying more sandbags as predictions continue for another year of flooding at Upper Liard, southeast Yukon, beginning in early June.

Officials held a media briefing last Thursday afternoon in Whitehorse to go over flood predictions based on snowpack measurements to date.

While Upper Liard residents should be ready, it’s not likely there’ll be flooding at Marsh Lake, despite some record-high levels of snow at several monitoring locations, hydrologist Ric Janowicz explained.

He said there could be high water for Marsh Lake and the upper Yukon River.

“Relative to 2007, I do not think it will get anywhere close to that,” Janowicz said.

He pointed out while there were record levels of snow at specific sites, overall, the snowpack in the Upper Yukon River and Southern Lakes district is about 35 per cent above normal. In 2007, it was 65 per cent above normal.

“I think people of Upper Liard should be prepared for some high water that could approach or exceed 2007.”

The snowpack in the Upper Liard region is 61 per cent above normal, Janowicz explained. He said when flooding occurred in 2007, the Upper Liard snowpack was 29 per cent above normal.

Flooding in the Upper Liard River basin is 100 per cent dependent on the spring snow melt, Janowicz explained.

He said for the Upper Yukon and Southern Lakes, 40 per cent of flood potential is dependent on the glacial melt, 35 per cent on the spring and summer rainfall, with 25 per cent depending on the snow melt.

The long-range forecast, Janowicz acknowledged, is for a cooler and damper spring.

Michael Templeton, the manager of the Emergency Measures Organization (EMO), reminded reporters that his staff have already met with Upper Liard residents to discuss the flood forecast.

Residents, he said, have been reminded of measures they can undertake to minimize damages, such as removing goods from low-lying areas - including crawl spaces - that may be affected by flood waters.

Sandbag barriers can only offer so much protection, as ground water levels will also swell and find their way into basements and crawl spaces, Templeton explained.

He said the EMO will be spending $40,000 to $50,000 this spring to add 50,000 sandbags to its inventory of 100,000. In 2007, the EMO used up slightly more than 300,000.

There are also plans to conduct land surveys in the Upper Liard and Marsh Lake areas to catalogue low-lying areas susceptible to flood waters, with the Liard work being a priority for this spring, Templeton said.

He added he has not yet contacted B.C. emergency response officials to discuss the situation with regards to Lower Post, situated on the banks of the Liard River inside the B.C. border just south of Watson Lake.

The Yukon provided some assistance to Lower Post during the 2007 flood, and Templeton said he’ll soon be making the annual phone call to B.C. officials to go over the upcoming flood potential for the spring.

Janowicz said monitoring stations in the Alsek River basin are showing a snowpack which is 58 per cent above normal, and 65 per cent above normal in the White River and Beaver Creek area.

Records are indicating a snowpack of between 31 and 50 per cent above normal for Pelly Crossing, Faro, Carmacks and Old Crow.

Mayo and Dawson are somewhere between 11 and 30 per cent above normal.

The only area in the Yukon which includes some stations showing a below average snowpack is a relatively narrow strip running up the Yukon-N.W.T. border, through the Peel River watershed and then west across the Fishing Branch reserve to the Alaska border.

He said officials will be watching the spring break-up of the Yukon and Porcupine rivers to monitor flood potential at Dawson City and Old Crow. Flooding in those communities has been caused in the past by ice jams during the break-up.

Cooler than normal temperatures over the winter have left behind thicker river ice, Janowicz pointed out.