June 12, 2012 - 6:53 PM
LOWER POST, B.C. - Flooding has devastated the tiny First Nations community of Lower Post, in northwest B.C. near the Yukon border.
Most residents in the community of just over 300 were evacuated in two groups over the weekend after heavy rain and melting snow pushed the Laird River over its banks.
The river rose to eight meters, a full metre above a record set in 1972, and flooded more than a dozen homes, while also washing out roads and knocking out power to most of the town.
Daylu Dena Council deputy chief Peter Stone says their people have been devastated by the flooding and the community has a limited capacity to deal with an event of that scale.
An emergency reception centre at the local elementary school has been set up for those few members who weren't evacuated to the nearest community of Watson Lake, Yukon, about 20 kilometres north of Lower Post.
At one point the Alaska Highway was washed out both north and south of the community, but the southern route has since been repaired and reopened.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012