Yukon River ice breaks at Dawson City, flood warning still in place for Klondike

Spring breakup has finally arrived in Dawson City, but the risk of floods in the area hasn't fully dissipated.

Yukon officials rescinded a flood watch for the Yukon River at Dawson after packed river ice started flowing late yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, a flood warning is still in place for the Klondike River. Properties in the Klondike Valley, just outside Dawson, have flooded in recent days after an ice jam on the Klondike caused water levels to rise.

One of those properties belongs to Franny Krivensky, who lives in the Dredge Pond Subdivision. Her yard was submerged early Monday morning.

Krivensky said her friends and neighbours rushed to install nearly 1,000 sandbags to prevent damage to her home.

 "They saved my house," she said. "[The water] did not touch the bottom of the floor, so they saved it just in time. They got here just in time."

Jeff Stephenson, chief of the Klondike Valley Fire Department, said water levels may be receding, but they could still fluctuate. That means homes in areas hit by flooding aren't in the clear just yet.

"There is a radio frequency, 105.5 emergency channel, that we'll update twice a day to let the residents know what's happening," he said.

Stephenson is urging residents to have an emergency kit and evacuation plan at the ready.

The Klondike flows into the Yukon River near downtown Dawson City. Julia Duschene, with the Yukon government's emergency coordination centre, said the hope is that the ice clearing on the Yukon will help ease flooding on the Klondike.

But she said there are numerous other jams on the Klondike. 

"We've seen ice jams all the way from the Dempster Corner right to the mouth of the Klondike at the Yukon River," Duschene said.

"We've got a pretty tenacious jam right at Rock Creek, and then we've also got an ice jam that's just formed upstream of Rock Creek at Henderson Corner."

Approximately 20 homes along Rock Creek Road and "a handful" of properties at Henderson Corner were affected by the flooding, Duschene said.