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HAY RIVER - After threatening for a couple of days, floodwaters poured into Hay River's Old Town late Wednesday afternoon.

Water covered sections of two streets near the East Channel by Wednesday evening, while Fisherman's Wharf and much of Hay River Beach were covered by water and ice.

Ira Cayen, 8, watches ice flow down the West Channel of the Hay River on May 6. Cayen and his family evacuated their home in the West Channel residential area on Vale Island. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

An evacuation notice for residents and businesses on Vale Island, which includes Old Town and West Channel, was lifted on Thursday morning. The roadblock on the road to Vale Island was removed at 5:30 a.m.

However, a notice from Mayor Jean-Marc Miltenberger advised that the town was still under a state of emergency and experiencing flooding in the East Channel.

Miltenberger told residents to be ready to evacuate again on short notice.

On Wednesday evening, the mayor had said the floodwater was "slowly creeping" higher, but the water had stabilized by Thursday morning.

Miltenberger said whether there has been any damage from the floodwaters has yet to be determined.

Margaret Bouvier, a resident of Old Town, left her home at about 3:15 a.m. Wednesday after hearing warning sirens.

"I thought, "Oh my God, I better get out of here,'" she recalled while watching the ice in West Channel on Wednesday afternoon.

Bouvier said she was a bit nervous about whether the flooding will affect her home, adding that, while the breakup is an annual event, it never gets routine.

The town had continued its flood warning Wednesday afternoon, predicting high water levels and high-to-moderate ice flows over the following 24 hours.

The flooding was triggered when an ice jam in a gorge below Louise Falls, about 40 km upstream, broke free at about 2 a.m. Wednesday and headed towards Hay River. The river's West and East Channels ­ already jammed with ice ­ saw water levels go even higher when the pressure wave from the Louise Falls ice jam hit at about 5 a.m., followed by more ice just over an hour later.

For most of Wednesday morning, ice and water rumbled down the West Channel, while the ice in the East Channel did not move as the water inched higher.

There has been no flooding in the West Channel residential area.

Residents of Vale Island had been strongly advised by the town on Tuesday evening not to spend the night in their homes, since there would only be a couple of hours notice when the ice jam below Louise Falls broke free.

For those who remained in their homes, the town notified them it was time to evacuate with sirens and honking horns.

Miltenberger could offer no estimate on how many people evacuated Vale Island, although he guessed up to 80 per cent found accommodations off the island with family or friends or at the Legion.

The mayor estimated 30 to 50 people remained in their homes on Vale Island.

On the Hay River Reserve, the evacuation continued Thursday morning for about 23 residents of Old Village on the East Channel. They have been out of their homes as a precaution since May 1.

Chief Alec Sunrise of K'atlodeeche First Nation said the road to the Old Village has been flooded at a low point near the cemetery.

One house is also surrounded by water, but it appears the house has not suffered any damage when viewed from an aerial survey.