Floods wreak havoc in Finland and Alaska

The worst spring flooding in years affected dozens of homes last week in Finnish Lapland.

In the eastern community of Ivalo, the river Ivalojoki overflowed its banks. Flood barriers erected 20 years ago kept the centre of Ivalo dry, but several roads and four residential areas were cut off by the rising water.

What is unusual about the flooding is that pack ice is not a factor.

Last week, residents in one part of Ivalo were urged to leave their homes and about 20 residents of a facility for the elderly were evacuated as a precaution.

The flood barriers – between two and three metres high – held back the rising waters, but at one point the water level was just ten centimetres below the edge of the barrier.

Meanwhile, in Husila, Alaska, flood waters gobbled up Front Street, threatening power poles and driving families to higher ground.

“It’s scary. Each day you wake up and look at the bank to see how much fell away,” Tim Pavlick told the Anchorage Daily News.

Winter food caches and smokehouses have been torn down or moved. After Front Street washed away, unused water and sewer pipes were left dangling from the bank.

Like many villages in Alaska, Husila has a history of relocating due to floods. The first settlement lasted less than 30 years before it moved to the present site in 1949.