Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn doesn’t deny he told the owner of a recreational property near Marsh Lake that her home might have to be sacrificed for the greater good.

In an interview with the Star this morning, Mostyn confirmed most of the information that several property owners in the Bayview Road area made in interviews in Friday’s edition.

They alleged the government closed off access to their properties in favour of protecting primary roads in the area and permanent residences.

“I did have a telephone conversation with one of the owners,” Mostyn said today. “I had a 15-20 minute conversation with her.”

He said he told the property owner he was relying on the advice of flood consultants retained by the government.

“It wasn’t my decision,” he said. “It was a very hard decision, but it was my duty. It was one of the earliest decisions we had to make.”

According to the best information he had, Mostyn said, it was too soon to start opening roads like Bayview as yet.

“We’re making the best decisions we can. It’s not a decision I would want to make myself. That’s why we have experts advising us.

“We’re not that familiar with floods here,” Mostyn added.

Kat Hallett, a government spokesperson, also issued a lengthy statement on the matter.

“The Southern Lakes flood incident is complex and things are changing day-by-day and sometimes by the hour,” she said.

“The Incident Management Team is working very hard, with expert advice from flood engineer experts and alongside property owners and volunteers to minimize the impact of the floodwaters on as many properties as possible.

“The team has been prioritizing work based on where mitigation efforts will provide the greatest mitigation to the flood impacting properties, and the Incident Management Team is asked to make some tough decisions to protect the safety of residents and their properties.”

Hallett said about the Bayview Road situation: “In this case, at the recommendation of the flood engineering experts brought in to advise the Incident Management Team, the flood waters had already overtaken the driveways and road access to four properties, power had to be cut off due to safety concerns, and in order to keep the waters from flooding the main road to the South McLintock subdivision, a superbag berm was constructed across the access point to the four properties.

“While this berm blocked off access to four properties, it was successful in maintaining the critical primary subdivision road access in the area to allow for construction of the water front dyke, emergency responder access and subdivision access for a majority of property owners,” the statement said.

“Unfortunately, this has meant that the residents of four properties on the Bayview Road have had to boat or walk in to their properties from the main road. We recognize this has caused challenges to access the seasonal residences.”

The statement added: Members of the Incident Management Team spoke to the owners of these properties to inform them of the rationale, risks, and as with all residents in the area made sure sand and sandbags were available for property owners.

“As well, the IMT would have discussed the option of voluntarily evacuating their properties while all properties remained on alert.

“We aim to protect all residents and properties, regardless of whether they are primary homes or recreational properties. However, in the early stages of response, resources must be triaged with the entire community and critical infrastructure in mind.”

Meanwhile, water levels on the big lakes are well below this year’s peak and are continuing to fall, according to numbers released this morning by the government.

The level of Bennett Lake is 24.4 centimetres below this summer’s peak.

The level of Tagish Lake is 23.4 centimetres below the peak while Marsh Lake is 26.1 centimetres below the peak.

Lake Laberge is 30.8 centimetres below the peak and the Yukon River at Whitehorse is 42.6 centimetres below this year’s peak.

The forecast is for rain overnight and tomorrow, but Yukon government hydrologist Anthony Bier said it’s not expected to have much of an impact.

While the forecast was originally calling for between 20 and 30 millimetres, Bier said, it’s now calling for 10 millimetres.

He said the larger quantities of rain are expected to fall north of Whitehorse.

This morning’s flood update says water levels may rise in response to the rain, but increases are not expected to be significant.

Flood warnings are being maintained for Lake Laberge and the Southern Lakes. A high stream flow advisory is being maintained for the Yukon River at Whitehorse.

– With a file from Chuck Tobin