An evacuation order was issued for the entire Hay River community, NWT, at 11:45 p.m. MT Tuesday, and residents were asked to head to a higher location or community center.
“Residents can also travel by road to the Enterprise and wait there for more information,” reads a Facebook post from the city of Hay River.
Those in need of transportation assistance are asked to call 833-699-0188. People leaving the community must register at the same number or on the city’s website.
Those heading to Yellowknife are asked to go directly to the multiplex on 41 Kam Lake Road.
Water floods the street in front of the Whispering Willows Senior Complex in downtown Hay River. (Emma Grunwald / CBC)
The order for the entire community of about 3,500 came days after the flood reached the small satellite community of Paradise Gardens and threatened Hay River’s Old Town, followed by the entire Vail Island.
The order came just 45 minutes after an evacuation order was issued for all properties along the river.
“Incredible”
Threats to the community’s “new city” – built in response to a major flood in 1963 – are considered unlikely by many.
A street in the new town of Hay River, east of the Hay River Highway, was photographed shortly after an evacuation order was issued for the entire community of about 3,500 people. (Juanita Taylor / CBC)
Roy Helmer told CBC’s Juanita Taylor that he has lived in the community all his life.
“I have never seen anything like it,” he said shortly after the order was issued. “It’s hard to believe. The river is rising, but nothing like that.
“I just see water running through all the trees there.”
Asked if he would leave, Helmer said he wasn’t sure where he would go.
A video by Emma Grunwald of the CBC shows emergency workers in hip bars leading people through water to their knees outside the city’s liquor store. Water flooded the street in front of the Whispering Willows complex for the elderly.
A video shared by April Martel, head of K’atl’odeeche First Nation, captured the sound of the city’s siren, which woke many.
Another video posted on Facebook by resident Darlene Lamb shows water flooding downtown streets.
“Here is the theater; it’s all flooded, “Lamb said in the video.
A tweet from Buffalo Air’s Mikey McBrien at 11:43 p.m. said the community was hit by a flash flood and Hay River Airport on Vail was closed.
I just found out that my family home in Hay River has just been hit by a sudden flood. My mother came out just as the water rushed in. YHY Airport is closed. Awaiting more information.
– @ MikeyMcBryan
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