The Athabasca River has started to break, and this has led municipal authorities to urge caution as the water levels rise in some areas. Monitoring staff has been deployed to keep close watch on the water levels and river condition. Assistant deputy chief of emergency management Alan McIntosh said “We had about a three hour ice run that moved through the municipality, but didn’t keep going. Since that period, we’ve had some water rises in different places … It’s caused a little bit of water backup in the Snye and around the very very low-level areas in Waterways.” As the ice breaks up on the river and the warmer temperatures cause thawing and melting some parts of Wood Buffalo could get wet very quickly.

The rising water levels of the Athabasca River are unpredictable, and McIntosh warns that it is very difficult to forecast how the break up of the river will progress. “There’s no magical formula. My hope is that … we’ll get enough push from the water coming down from (upstream) that will push the ice through and let all the water out of the Clearwater. Worst case scenario, we get a jam and the water could come up further.” The river breakup will not be declared complete, and monitoring will not stop, until all of the ice has cleared the area and there is no longer any flooding risk from potential dams that could stop the flow of the ice. McIntosh warned residents to be cautious right now. “We can’t say enough to stay away from the banks, they’re really slippery. We’re on watch right now to see what we can … everyone’s doing their job.”