spring breakup

Tension high as water rises in Fort Liard, holds steady in Fort Simpson

Tension high as water rises in Fort Liard, holds steady in Fort Simpson

With a highly anticipated spring breakup underway in the Dehcho, residents in Fort Liard and Fort Simpson N.W.T., are seeing rising water. In Fort Liard, water is reaching the main road in the community, falling about 400 meters short from the general store. "It's happening so fast, it seems," said Robert Low, who works at the band office there. He said that some people are currently stranded at the general store and that others are being taken to safety. The ice along the river appeared to be flowing, up until a big sheet of ice came, then Low said: "everything stopped."

Some Jean Marie River residents are moved into new homes but worry about flood risk

Some Jean Marie River residents are moved into new homes but worry about flood risk

Last spring, when Lucy Simon walked into her family home and business after the flood waters in Jean Marie River First Nation receded, she started to cry. "We lost everything," she told CBC News on Friday. "The most important thing to me that I lost dearly is that the water went over my parents grave and my kids' baby pictures." She also lost freezers full of meat. Simon ran Lucy's Bed and Breakfast, a place where she provided traditional foods to guests. But she will not be continuing the business when the home is repaired. She's currently living in a trailer that she said is nice, but a small space for all her art supplies that her husband will occasionally trip over.