Perth-Andover under evacuation order due to flooding risk

The mayor of Perth-Andover, N.B., says about 200 people have been evacuated from his community after rivers threatened to breach their banks Saturday night.

One massive ice jam near the villagebroke up Sunday evening and moved downriver shortly before 8 p.m. local time, causing river levels to decrease dramatically.

But officials said the state of emergency and mandatory evacuation would remain in place in the village located about 100 kilometres northwest of Fredericton, near the Maine border, as a second ice jam upriver from Perth-Andover is expected to move into the area.

Police closed parts of the downtown on Sunday evening. Anglophone West school district has closed Andover Elementary, Southern Victoria High, andPerth-Andover Middle School on Monday.

Mayor Terry Ritchie says the village has been through this before, but the evacuation is likely to remain longer in place longer this time around and residents need to prepare.

"They're so stressed out, last year we had another high water event it didn't quite flood but it came very close and it was so hurtful there might as well have been a flood." he said.

Dan Bedell with the Canadian Red Cross tweeted Sunday morning that of those residents who left their homes, 41 registered with Red Cross and seven slept at a shelter set up at Perth-Andover Middle School.

He said four othersopted to sleep in their vehicles outside the shelter and 15 others stayed at nearby motels.

Bedell said residents can return home during the day, but the evacuation order is still in place for Sunday night if the flood risk persists.

The Canadian Red Cross says theevacuation was ordered due to significant ice jams along the St. John and Tobique Rivers just north of the village and concern by local authorities that ice could move quickly downstream during the night, clogging the river at the Perth-Andover bridge.

Patients have also been evacuated from Hotel Dieu of St. Joseph, the local hospital. Of the 23 patients affected, six were discharged and the rest were sent to either Victoria Glen Manor or Upper River Valley Hospital both are hospitals in the community but unaffected by the flooding.

Horizon Health Network says the emergency department of Hotel Dieu will remain open.

Scary situation

Ritchie says with three separate ice jams on rivers surrounding the town, it's a scary situation.

"When you're standing down there, in front of the village office, by the river, you're looking at big globs of ice. They look like they're high enough to damage the bridge," he said. "We're going to have about three different [rivers with jams to deal with]. The first one is with the oneice jam, and there's going to be two others."

Justine Walbeck is the public information officer for the village. She is urging people to stay away from the river.

Ice jams in Perth-Andover, N.B.

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Perth Andover under evacuation order due to flooding risk.

"Anybody that's outside, we're cautioning them not to get on the ice, I know it's tempting sometimes to get your picture taken on an ice box," she said. "But if that jam lets go, it can be a very dangerous situation for anyone who is near the river."

Route 105 into the town has also been closed.