HAY RIVER - Hay River was armed with something new to counter possible flooding from breakup this year - sandbags.

However, one Hay River resident is irate the town put a limit on the number of sandbags per household for residents of Vale Island.

"The ludicrousness of the whole thing was they put a limit of 100 bags per house. It's like a hundred sandbags wouldn't even run around the house," said Chris Robson, who lives on a flood-prone street in Old Town.

"I would have needed probably three times that many bags to go around the house," he said

Prior to this year, his yard has flooded the previous four years, including 2008 when it was covered with large chunks of ice, Robson said.

"If they're going to put a limit of a hundred bags per person, that's just ridiculous," he added. "What's the point? There's just no point in doing it."

He wants to see no limit on the number of sandbags in the future.

Robson said the situation is an example of "apathy" by the town when it comes to the annual threat of flooding and he is disgusted by it.

Mayor Kelly Schofield said the town purchased 4,000 sandbags to help residents deal with potential flooding.

Schofield said, while there was a limit of 100 sandbags per household, the town expected residents who really needed them would actually get more.

"We knew that just discussing this idea with some of the residents down there that they would be willing to share and donate their portion of the sandbags to people who really did need it," he said.

Depending on how they were placed on a property, even 100 sandbags would offer some protection, he added.

For example, he noted one of his family members sandbagged a propane tank that was on a low-lying part of his property.

The mayor said the town will build on the sandbag initiative in coming years.

"So, yes, it would have been nice if we had 40,000 sandbags, but, with a limited budget, 4,000 was a great start to me," he said. "I just hope people take that in a positive light rather than a negative."

The town supplied the sand, and the bags were filled by inmates from the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre.

The filled sandbags were piled on an empty lot where residents could pick them up for free.

Schofield is not sure how many sandbags were taken, but hundreds still remain on the lot.

The mayor said, along with the sandbag initiative, the town is working on long-term plans to help residents deal with the annual threat of flooding.

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