PANGNIRTUNG, Nunavut - A flash flood has forced a remote northern community to dump raw sewage in the pristine waters of an Arctic fiord.
"This event was unprecedented,'' said Ron Mongeau of the hamlet of Pangnirtung on Baffin Island, which has declared a state of local emergency.
"We talked to elders who cannot recall anything even close to the wall of water that came down that river on Sunday.''
The Duvall River deluge hit Pangnirtung after two days of heavy rain. So much water blasted through that it carved a 10-metre channel through the permafrost right down to bedrock.
It also damaged the community's two bridges across the river badly enough that both were closed, cutting Pangnirtung off from essential services.
"We're now cut off from direct access to our water reservoir, our municipal dump and our sewage treatment plant,'' Mongeau said Wednesday.
Officials were able to park a water truck on the far side of one bridge before it became impassable. That truck is now pumping water through a hose across the bridge to another truck, which then ferries the water to residents.
But there's no such solution for sewage, which is being dumped directly into the river about 50 metres from where it flows into the Pangnirtung Fiord, the site of a productive local fishery for both char and beluga whales.
"We've got a 48-hour window to dump the raw sewage, but obviously that's going to have to be extended,'' Mongeau said.
Poor flying weather has blocked the Nunavut government from sending emergency crews into the community, which is not accessible by road.
"We need outside assistance and we need it big-time.''
Mongeau said the flood is being attributed to unusually heavy rain and warm weather.
