Berm built in Nahanni Butte as water creeps closer to evacuation threshold
Water rising 4 inches every 12 hours, starting to cross roads to dump and river crossing
River water continues to rise in Nahanni Butte, N.W.T. — but the fact it's going up slower now than it was last week doesn't offer much comfort to the community's leader.
Nahɂą Dehé Dene Band Chief Steve Vital used a front loader on Monday afternoon to dump piles of dirt along the river side of a low-lying road in the community. It was the first step to building a berm there, where the water is now roughly a foot from being flush with the road.
If water does reach the road, Vital said the N.W.T.'s Department of Municipal Affairs will order an evacuation. The berm won't stop that from happening, but the goal is that it'll keep the water from flowing to the nearby power plant and toward the airstrip.
"It's kind of heartbreaking to see it coming up," said Vital, as he drove about the community noticing all the places the water had creeped up. "I wish it would peak so we don't have to be under this flood evacuation notice. It would be a lot of stress off the shoulders."
Nahanni Butte is a community of 93 people in the N.W.T.'s Dehcho region, which lies on the bank of the South Nahanni River near its confluence with the Liard River. Vital said the South Nahanni River was going up about four inches every 12 hours, and the Liard River seemed to be doing the same.
Water has now started to inch its way across the road to the dump and sewage lagoon, as well as the road to the Liard River Crossing. Vital said he planned to build up both of those roads with dirt on Monday as well, in hopes of maintaining the community's connection to its infrastructure and a key exit point.
If MACA declares an evacuation, Vital said between 13 and 15 people had registered to be flown out of the community to Fort Simpson, N.W.T., and 20 people had said they wanted to stay behind. The rest, he said, wanted to cross the Liard River by boat to vehicles on the other side of the water.
If the road to the Liard River Crossing becomes impassable, Vital said people would be able to boat to the Liard River via the South Nahanni River — but they'd need to make sure their vessel was on the right river, and their access to it wasn't cut off.
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