by Glenn Taylor
Northern News Services

INUVIK (June 06/97) - The danger that was the Mackenzie River has moved on.

Aklavik's flood emergency response team was on high alert early last week, but it was clear by week's end that high water levels were dropping, and ice breakup was proceeding at an orderly pace.

"It is clear the crisis has backed off," said RCMP Cpl. Joanne McKinnon, a member of the committee. "But it was close."

The committee closed its communications command centre last Thursday, and recommended the return of the community's elders. Fifteen elders were evacuated to Inuvik Regional Hospital two weeks ago from the community's elder home for safety reasons.

It was a different story altogether two weeks ago. The Mackenzie River at Arctic Red reached 15.31 metres, its highest breakup peak since 1989's 17.6 metres. In fact, the water height there had grown more than five metres in just 24 hours, suggesting worse was ahead for communities downriver.

Tsiigehtchic's James Cardinal was alarmed at the sudden rise of the water, and he jumped on the bush radio to warn cabin owners down stream to prepare for it. Members of the RCMP and Environment Canada's Water Survey were also flown in late that night to assess the situation. At the same time, Inuvik RCMP organized an emergency notification of bush camps of possible flooding.

When the massive volume of water reached Aklavik a few days later, some residents there became concerned. McKinnon said at the highest point, some back roads and ditches were full of water. "It rose so rapidly, we just didn't know."

Moe Hansen, the officer in charge of Inuvik's Water Survey, has been keeping a close eye on the river. He took to the skies with bush pilot Willard Hagen last Friday to find out from the air what the ice was doing down below.

It was clear the danger of flooding was melting away with each passing day. Despite thick ice levels and high water, the debris moved through in an orderly fashion, with very little damming occurring.

The water at Inuvik was 16.3 metres on Sunday night when much of the ice moved through the East Channel, but water levels were down to 15.5 metres as of Tuesday, according to Hansen.

Inuvik still got its share of water. The old town airstrip was flooded, and the access road to NTCL and Hansen's Petroleum got wet.

Beyond that, breakup this year attracted a large crowd Sunday to watch it unfold. More than a dozen people stood by the riverbank Sunday afternoon, taking snaps of the giant boulders of ice as they grinded their way to the sea at speeds of perhaps 15 km/h.

Hansen gives this year's breakup a 7 out of 10, in terms of viewing pleasure. It was quite a spectacular breakup, although at least Aklavik is grateful it wasn't too spectacular.