Happy Valley-Goose Bay watching river closely as ice and water levels rise

The ice breakup along the Churchill River near Happy Valley-Goose Bay has brought water levels up to a point of concern forresidents.

In some places riverbanks were being eroded Tuesday and property owners weredoing their best to hold back the water.

"We tried to put a berm in place but it doesn't look like its working right now," said Dave Morris, who owns D's landing, a convenience store and gas bar near the river.

Morris put sevenloads of sand down to protect hisparking lotfrom the ice and water, which was too close for comfort.

He decided to empty supplies out of a shed that's a few metres back from the water and was watching closely as his gas tank is also in a low-lying area.

"A couple of spots it looks like its leaking. Hopefully it can hold up."

The higher levels arecaused by ice jamming at the mouth of the Churchill river flowing into Lake Melville. Water levels rise at this time every year but this year many people say its higher.

"We are so surprised because it was not like this last year," Benjamin Adeniyisaid. He's lived in Happy Valley Goose bay for about a year.

"[our house] is a bit far away but we are concerned for others."

Sunken boardwalk

"I'd say this is an extreme event," Marina Biasutti-Brown with Healthy Waters Labrador said. "We know the water's going to rise, we didn't expect it to rise this far."

The group has been working on a wetland reserve on Birch Island. Parts of the road are under water and the boardwalk has come loose from its moorings.

"The water has risen higher than the deck board so it is floating."

Biasutti-Brown saidthe boardwalk is closed for now and when water levels subside her organization will look at how to handle events like this in the future.

"That's when we're really going to look at how are we going to design a footing to handle this kind of water level and how can we make the boardwalk higher in some places."