Slow melt could spell trouble in the Hub
Terry Halifax
Northern News Services
Hay River (Apr 30/01) - The South Slave saw a large amount of wet, deep snow this year, that may cause a problem if the melt comes too quick in Hay River.
With the highest snowfall recorded in 15 years, the flood watch committee is monitoring this year's break-up very closely.
Honourary councillor for life and breakup expert Red McBryan said the river has shown no indication of letting go due to the cool night temperatures. He said the same conditions caused a disaster.
"Our experience with the flood in '63, was, we had a cool spring and when she let go, you had to see it to believe it," McBryan said. "It didn't follow the normal pattern of going down through the water courses -- it came right out of the bush in a flood."
"It cut the highway west of Enterprise -- we lost seven sections of the highway."
He said this year the snowfall wasn't as deep as in '63, but there is enough to cause a problem if the weather heats-up.
"When it turns hot and stays hot and the snow thaws all night long, we have enough snow in the system today, that it could come -- we don't know, but we hope not."
"We had 23 inches of snow this year that gave us three-and-a-half inches of water -- a half inch more than we've been getting in previous years," McBryant said. "The depth of the snow is the highest we've had since '84-'85."
There has been no ice movement between Hay River and High Level and he said there is not the normal pooling of overflow along the riverbanks.
Since mid-April, McBryan has been making observations along the Hay River every other day, along with monitoring by satellite will have a good indication how things will break.
As of press time, the ice had still not moved, and little runoff is taking place but McBryan said, the winds are evaporating the daytime melt.
"We are getting a lot of western winds and that just vaporizes it," he said. "No flow seems to becoming into the system yet."
Without runoff, the ice will just rot in the river. He explained that when runoff occurs, the running water builds-up along the river's edge, heaving the centre, until the anchor ice on shore breaks free.
"There's nothing like that showing as of yet."
Emergency Measures Operations coordinator, Robert Bouchard has taken over the reigns of EMO since McBryan left council. He admits he has big gumboots in McBryan's absence and is happy the river veteran continues to lend his experience to the town.
"Red's been addicted to the river for many years, but I have worked in the background in the years past with him," Bouchard said. "Since I've been on council I was the alternate for EMO with Red."
Bouchard said the breakup committee is an annual event that brings all the emergency response people together to keep things current and in touch with who's who.
"The community has always had an emergency response plan in place," Bouchard said. "The annual breakup always makes people take notice and make sure that we're prepared for emergencies."
