Carolyn Sloan
Northern News Services
Thursday, July 31, 2008

Panniqtuuq/Pangnirtung - Twenty-one visitors were evacuated from Auyuittuq National Park this week due to fears of a flash flood in the area around Crater Lake.

On the morning of July 28, a group of visitors returning from their trip came into the park office with photos showing severe erosion of the moraine around the lake, said park manager Delia Berrouard. After seeing the instability of the basin walls, Parks Canada staff became concerned that they might give way, causing the valley to flood.

Given the potential danger to tourists, park personnel began arranging for the evacuation of the visitors in the area at risk, she said.

Announcements were made at the at the park's emergency shelters every 30 minutes to alert tourists of the plans for evacuation. A notice of closure for the region of the park from Windy Lake to north of Crater Lake was issued as well.

“We also notified tourism operators, hamlet offices, Nunavut media, joint park management committees, QIA, visitor centres, hunters' and trappers' organizations, Nunavut Tourism, the Government of Nunavut and the Department of Environment,” Berrouard said. “At this point, our priority is to secure the area, to procure the evacuation of the visitors that are affected.”

The Coast Guard and the RCMP assisted park staff with the evacuation. Monday afternoon a helicopter from Qikiqtarjuaq transported 14 visitors out of the area. Three tourists were removed by boat.

By Tuesday afternoon, all 17 visitors had been evacuated, along with an additional four visitors hiking around Summit Lake. Most were evacuated by late Monday evening.

On Wednesday, Pauline Scott, communications manager for Nunavut's national parks, said the area at risk of flooding had grown. While flying over the park in the helicopter, staff discovered that the erosion extended beyond Crater Lake to Rundle River, a distance of approximately 30 kilometres. Parks Canada is now waiting for experts to determine the extent of the erosion and identify the potential areas of the park that are vulnerable.

“We need to know whether we have to extend the closure to the rest of the park,” Scott said. “We are awaiting expert opinions because we are very concerned.”

While erosion in Auyuittuq is not uncommon, the extent of the deterioration in this case is as unusual as it is unsettling, especially since increased rainfall and higher temperatures have sped up the process.

“It (the park) is very geologically active...with lots of glaciers,” said Scott. “But this is an usually large amount of that.”