Hay River (May 01/06) - There were some tense hours late last week as a big push of spring break-up water and ice roared through the Hay River.

At about 10 p.m. Thursday, the river overflowed its banks in the East Channel at Fisherman's Wharf and started to creep along ditches toward Hay River's Old Town. That prompted a precautionary evacuation of 101st Street residents.

Tommy Macdonald looks across the West Channel of the Hay River. The area resident, who is part of the river watch, can't do anything but watch the ice that is clogging up the river. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

At the wharf, three vessels were tipped on their sides by the water and ice. Nearby, three large fuel tanks started to float off.

On the other side of the river people were evacuated from Old Village on the Hay River Reserve.

Late Thursday night, emergency vehicles with sirens blaring drove along 101st Street - the closest Hay River residential area to the flooding - and firefighters went door to door asking people to leave their homes.

Robert Bouchard, Hay River's Emergency Measures Organization co-ordinator, said there was no mandatory evacuation.

"We advised everybody we would like them to evacuate," Bouchard said, estimating about 30-40 people live on the street.

Some went to the Fire Training Centre or the Legion, while others found their own accommodations. Bouchard did not have numbers on how many people actually left their homes.

A few returned home as early as 1:30 a.m. Friday after emergency personnel determined the area was safe.

Bouchard said the flood water filled the ditches along the street, but didn't reach any homes.

John Sperry and his family decided to leave their 101st Street house for the night.

"They just asked us to go, so we went," he said.

There was no panic in the evacuation, and the emergency services were very professional, he noted. "Everything was done in an orderly fashion."

Sperry said he was confident that his house - which is built well above the ground - would not be flooded. "But you're never really sure."

Tammy Caudron, another 101st Street resident, remained at home, but kept a close watch through the night.

"As I told the fireman, I got a boat over there," she said, nodding towards the corner of her garden. "And a big anchor."

The water filled ditches, but did not cover the street, she noted. "If it started to go over the road, I'd be gone."

In fact, she and her 14-year-old daughter packed up and briefly left their home at about 1 a.m. when they saw water covering a neighbour's driveway.

After discussing the situation with another neighbour, they returned home.

Caudron believes most people left the street.

About 15 people were evacuated from Old Village on the Hay River Reserve.

K'atlodeeche First Nation Chief Roy Fabian said the evacuation was a precaution after a few inches of flood water covered a 20-foot section of the road to Old Village.

"We were afraid the road would be cut off and they would not be able to get out," Fabian explained.

The evacuees spent the night with family before returning home the next morning.

As of Friday, the water levels in the Hay River were going down from a peak of up to 20 feet above normal.

"The water is still fairly high," Bouchard said Friday afternoon. "We're keeping an eye on it today."

Warmer river water was starting to eat away at the ice pack that stretched from New Town to the mouths of the West Channel and East Channel.

The state of emergency, which the Town of Hay River had invoked on Thursday afternoon as river watchers warned of the big push of water heading down the river later that day, was still in place as of Friday.

Bouchard said the volume of water going over Alexandra Falls south of Enterprise had decreased significantly by Friday.

The break-up had actually started on April 24, but it is believed the second large push of water was created by an ice jam at Grumbler Rapids, about 40 km north of the Alberta border. Rosalee Prentice, who lives on 104th Street in Old Town, saw the river ice break Thursday evening.

"It was the most powerful thing I've ever seen, and absolutely spectacular," Prentice said the next day. "It was fast. The whole darn thing just started to move."

The ice then jammed and the river started to back up, she said.

Prentice watched in amazement as the raging river picked up and moved the three fuel tanks, each about 10 metres high. They were moved up to a hundred metres before settling back on shore.

"It looked like someone was driving them," she said. "It was really something."

Flooding also caused a section of the Mackenzie Highway near Fort Simpson to close Friday evening. A strong spring runnoff washed out a half-kilometre of the gravel highway.