{"id":620158,"date":"2026-04-22T02:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/620158\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T02:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:52:14","slug":"flood-risk-above-average-for-much-of-yukon-with-lots-of-snow-yet-to-melt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/620158\/","title":{"rendered":"Flood risk ‘above average’ for much of Yukon, with lots of snow yet to melt"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Yukon emergency officials say they’re preparing for potential flooding in some areas this spring, after a very snowy winter.<\/p>\n

“Where there’s above-average snowpack, there’s above-average flood risk \u2014 and we have that almost across the entire territory,” said government hydrologist Anthony Bier, at a news conference on Monday.<\/p>\n

“That doesn’t mean that the flood risk is high in every community.”<\/p>\n

Right now, the community of Carmacks is at highest risk of flooding in the coming weeks, associated with possible ice jams on the Nordenskiold River. The Klondike Valley, Old Crow and Ross River are also at moderate risk of ice-jam flooding.<\/p>\n

Teslin is also at high risk of flooding in the coming weeks, as the snow melts. That part of the territory had some of the highest snowpack in the territory as of April 1, and 53 per cent above normal. Snowpack was also well above normal in the Liard, White and central Yukon River basins. <\/p>\n

The only region of the territory where snowpack was relatively near normal as of April 1 was the Stewart River basin, around Mayo.<\/p>\n

\"ASnowpack was above average across most of the territory as of April 1. (Government of Yukon)<\/p>\n

However, Bier said flood risk is not just about the amount of snow that has to melt. He said the weather in the weeks ahead will also play a crucial role, with temperature trends and precipitation “critical ingredients for flooding, regardless of what the snowpack conditions are.”<\/p>\n

Officials said weather conditions in the territory are expected to be warmer than normal in the weeks ahead and into the summer.<\/p>\n

Greg Blackjack, director of the territory’s Emergency Measures Organization, said on Monday that emergency officials have already been visiting and working with communities most at risk of flooding, to ensure they’re prepared.<\/p>\n

That includes “pre-positioning” sandbags and other materials that might be needed.<\/p>\n

“We have a good supply of flood response materials in our warehouse in Whitehorse, [which] includes 40,000 burlap sandbags, 350,000 poly sandbags, 70,000 feet of poly roll, and about 15,000 of the large super bags,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"FourYukon officials give an update on flood and fire risk in the territory on Monday. From left to right: Community Services Minister Cory Bellmore, hydrologist Anthony Bier, director of the Emergency Measures Organization Greg Blackjack, and fire information officer Mike Fancie. (Dana Hatherly\/CBC)<\/p>\n

“Our sandbag machines have been serviced and they’re ready to be sent out when requested, across the territory.”<\/p>\n

Preparing for wildfire season<\/p>\n

Fire information officer Mike Fancie was also at Monday’s news conference to give an update on preparations for the upcoming wildfire season. He acknowledged that it may seem early to talk about fire risk when there’s still so much snow on the ground, but said “it’s inevitable it [snow] is going to go away.”<\/p>\n

“We’re preparing for this year the same way as we do any other fire season,” he said.<\/p>\n

Fancie said that in April and May, that means emphasizing fire safety and prevention.<\/p>\n

“We know how conditions usually unfold once the snow melts,” he said. “Generally speaking, when this happens, the ground dries and it uncovers the dead and dry debris from last fall. The dead leaves and the old grass can burn easily and spread quickly.”<\/p>\n

He said the most important thing residents can do in spring to reduce wildfire risk is to remove that debris from their properties, and do other FireSmart work.<\/p>\n

“I can’t emphasize this enough. The work that we do on our homes is going to have the greatest impact on their survivability during a wildfire,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-620158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}