SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Fuel shortages have spread to communities north of the Mackenzie River's Merv Hardie crossing and some residents are feeling a bit "penned in" as they wait for water levels to rise so the ferry can resume operating.

Both gas stations in Behchoko were out of gas as of last Friday. The Merv Hardie Ferry went out of service for a week due to low water levels. As a result, communities across the river found themselves short of fuel as motorists rushed to stock up. - NNSL file photo

While some Yellowknife gas stations began flying in fuel late last week, both Behchoko stations exhausted their supplies despite imposing limits on how much gas customers could buy.

David Bown, manager of Behchoko's Northern Store and gas bar, said the gas bar had stopped allowing jerry cans and limited customers to $20 worth of gas per fill up but still ran out around 8 p.m. last Thursday after hours of line-ups, which included customers from Yellowknife desperate to get some fuel.

"A rumour went around that Yellowknife was out of gas and our gas bar just filled up then. Big line-ups," Bown said. "There were some strange faces - people we didn't know, anyway."

As of last Friday morning, at least one Yellowknife gas station was selling flown-in fuel at an increased cost to customers, about $1.99 per litre. But Bown said Behchoko stations didn't hike their prices.

"We didn't put it up when we knew we were running low because nobody would appreciate that when we got gas," he said. "Like I tell people here, 'you better get down on your knees' and pray for higher water levels."

Until fuel trucks and other supplies, not to mention people, can travel across the river on the ferry again, Bown said residents don't have much choice but to sit tight.

"I think they're going to get bad nerves because they're going to feel penned in, to a degree I suppose, because we don't have gas and there's none in Yellowknife, so we just have to wait. I hope it's not too long," he said.

In Fort Providence, one of the community's two gas stations has depleted its supply, yet some residents say they're refusing to panic.

Fort Providence's Northern Store gas bar ran out of gas on Nov. 23, but the local Big River Service Centre still has enough to last until early this week if people keep abiding by the one jerry can limit, employee Shawn Sellars said Friday.

While the fuel shortage has put some taxi drivers in Yellowknife out of work, according to one city cab driver, cabs in Fort Providence are running as normal on a supply of gas the company brought from Hay River just before the ferry went out.

Andy Sapp, owner of C&A Holdings Taxi, said he's been watching the water levels drop since this past fall and ordered fuel ahead of time to be prepared.

"We made sure we gassed up before the levels went bad," he said.

Now he estimates the cabs have enough to last for the next six weeks.

"Anybody who's been paying attention knew this was going to happen," Sapp said. "I know there's people in Yellowknife that know this too, but maybe not every manager thinks about river levels because he doesn't see it every day. We see it every day."

The NWT Department of Transportation issued an update on Saturday morning to advise the public the ferry had resumed operations as of 6 p.m. Friday to restricted traffic. As of the opening, priority was being given to fuel and food shipments. Unrestricted service was expected to begin Sunday.

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