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WATSON LAKE, YUKON TERRITORY -- The washout of the Alaska Highwaybetween Destruction Bay and Haines Junction has been fixed enoughfor one lane of traffic to dribble through, but traveling farthersouth than Teslin or farther north than Watson Lake remainedimpossible Sunday. Repair crews were able to make an outlet to the south for thepeople stranded on the highway between washouts in the Rancheriaarea, but crews on Sunday were still working on the big washoutbetween Watson Lake and Teslin. The joke around town is that the highway's actually been open allthis time, with the closure a ploy to give tourism in the southernYukon an early-season boost. That's only funny after one has shareda breakfast table with travelers who watched 200 feet of roadbedand asphalt boil away under swift-moving overflow -- right beforetheir eyes. There are plenty of such first-hand witnesses in town now, most ofwhom were lucky enough to make it back to Watson Lake before asecond, smaller washout stranded others in the Rancheria area. Although there have been reports of dwindling supplies inWhitehorse and other highway communities caused by the interruptionof supply routes, shelves and restaurants here have experienced noshortages, despite the stranded travelers and flood evacuees fromnearby communities swelling the population by more than 100. Elders evacuated from the Liard First Nation community of LowerPost, in far northern British Columbia on the Liard River, havebeen put up in makeshift housing at Watson Lake. The upper LiardRiver has risen sharply, and 11 communities in the area had to beevacuated as a dike gave way. Other Upper Liard communities areconsidering evacuations, the CBC reports. Crews are working around the clock, CBC reports, and the officialword is that slow, one-lane traffic through the remaining washoutsbetween Teslin and Watson Lake may begin by Monday morning. Butthat's a rough timeline provided by officials, who until Sundayhave been cautious not to get anyone's hopes up too quickly. Yukon s Department of Highways and Public Works continues to recommend that motorists not to travel to Teslin orto Watson Lake. Here's how things looked to this Alaska Dispatch editor earlierthis weekend: The road gods took a huge dump on us. We're stuck in Watson Lake.The Alcan is closed in two spots between here and the Alaska borderbecause of mudslides and washouts. The crews are working, but theword around here is the slides won't be totally cleared untilMonday at the earliest. The one at Kluane Lake is really bad, sayrumors, and it might take longer to clear for one lane. Local infoon it is limited, though, because no one from there made it herebefore other slides closed the road. Allan Nixon, assistant deputy minister of the Yukon HighwayDepartment's transportation division, told the CBC : We just need the water to recede a little bit so we can get areally good look at what we have. And we need to make sure that inthe landslide areas that it's safe for our crews to get in andfinish cleaning up the areas and then it's safe for people to startusing the road again. For more updates check here or here or here. Contact Scott Woodman at scott(at)alaskadispatch.com. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Sony Projector Lamps , Infocus Projector Lamp Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Projector Light Bulbs today!
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