Many evacuees allowed to return home

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Some of the 13,000 residents forced out by flooding in Fort McMurray were allowed to return to their homes Friday, but an ice jam on the Peace River was threatening several other northern Alberta communities.

Environment Minister Jason Nixon said a 44-kilometre-long icy mass on the Peace River could mean another 6,000 residents might need support from the province.

“Little Red River Cree Nation issued a local state of emergency on April 27,” Nixon said during a news conference. “We know several thousand people could be affected.”

A total of 750 people have already had to leave their homes on the reserve, which includes Garden City on the eastern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park. Nixon said at least 400 of those people need support.

“We are working with the provincial operations centre to get temporary shelter and food to them as quickly as possible.”

About 14,000 people in northern Alberta were out of their homes Friday.

Most of them were from Fort McMurray where a different ice jam earlier this week on the Athabasca River led to the flooding of the city's downtown.

“Leaving your homes during a disaster is never ideal,” said Nixon. “When you add the stress of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, it has certainly been a difficult and challenging week for everyone in northern Alberta affected by flooding.”

The situation was improving Friday in Fort McMurray.

Nixon said water levels had fallen by 7.6 metres on the Athabasca River and between one and 1.5 metres on the Clearwater River since Sunday. He added that the toe of the Athabasca ice jam had released overnight and the blockage was about nine kilometres long, down from 25 kilometres at its peak.

Mayor Don Scott of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, said he has asked municipal employees to do everything they can to get people back to their homes as soon as possible.

“The water is going down rapidly,” he said. “There is real progress being made with the areas that still have water downtown.

“We know that this is a real opportunity for people to get back in their homes to assess what is happening.”

An estimated 1,230 structures in the city have been damaged.

It's not the first time Fort McMurray has dealt with a natural disaster. A raging wildfire in May 2016 forced an evacuation of the entire city and destroyed 2,400 homes and buildings.

Officials said mandatory evacuation orders had been lifted for some areas of the city. They couldn't say how many people were being allowed to return, but warned residents that they may not be able to move back in.

“Structures may have been damaged,” said Scott Davis, the municipality's director of emergency management. “Residents and business owners are advised to use caution.