DAWSON CITY – After a succession of days with potential flood warnings ranging from caution to alert to warning, Tuesday dawned with good news from the City of Dawson.

“No advisories are in place for the Klondike River Valley, “ read the Facebook Post. “The Flood Warning and High Streamflow Advisory for the Klondike River have ENDED.

“The Evacuation Alert for the Klondike River Valley has been RESCINDED.”

After days of concern caused by the heavy build-up of ice east of the Ogilvie Bridge, the town reported, “The Klondike River has broken. The ice jam at the Klondike Highway bridge has released and flushed through to the Yukon River, lowering water levels by 1.7 metres at the bridge.”

Much of that jumble ice from the Klondike is stranded on gravel flats near the confluence with the Yukon, with a lot of the rest floating at the corner past the ferry landing and below the Moosehide Slide.

The Facebook post continued, “Two ice jams remain in place at Henderson Corner and the Bear Creek subdivision.

“Small rises in water levels will result from the release of the remaining upstream ice jams, but this does not represent a concern for flooding at this time.

“Once the river is open, water levels will start rising seasonally as freshet season approaches.” 

Meanwhile, some of the large pans that stretched for kilometres south of the Klondike have drifted north.

As well, the remains of the snowmobile/ATV trail from Sunnydale are visible near the ferry landing like the ghost of an ice bridge that never was this winter.

The water was higher Monday night to cause all this to happen, but it’s not that high now.

There is still lots of ice on the Yukon River south of the Klondike River, and there was more ice in front of Dawson on Tuesday than the previous Sunday when the IODE tripod moved.