Icy floodwaters show no sign of receding in partially evacuated Newfoundland town

BADGER – A town in central Newfoundland remained under a partial evacuation order Saturday because of flooding caused by rivers backed up by ice jams.

Earlier in the day, residents from about 110 homes in Badger were told it wasn’t safe to return because the floodwaters weren’t receding.

Mayor Dennis Butt said about 170 people were being urged to register with the Red Cross and seek shelter at the Badger Community Centre if they had nowhere else to go.

“For the residents, it’s the emotional piece, the obvious inconvenience and the frustrations with having to leave your home and feel worry and anxiety,” Butt said in an interview Saturday night.

“I know residents want to return home, but we just have to make sure that it’s safe to do so …. And we’re still at alarmingly high water levels.”

A state of emergency was declared on Wednesday and town council ordered the first of a series of evacuations late Thursday after the Exploits River spilled its banks and icy water crept into the community of more than 700.

“So the levels have been gradually rising since last week,” the mayor said. “What’s been happening is that there’s a rise, then there’s decrease, but the … water levels don’t decrease to the baseline.”

At 115 centimetres above its normal level, the Exploits River reached a height considered to be a once-in-20-year flood, he said, adding the river was just below that measurement on Saturday night.

The town is prone to flooding because it sits at the confluence of three rivers, the largest of which is the Exploits, a 246-kilometre waterway that starts at Beothuk Lake and empties into the Bay of Exploits off the northeast coast of the island. 

Butt said the other two rivers, the Red Indian River and Badger Brook, were also on the rise.

“All three rivers have been unpredictable and adding to the issue,” the mayor said. 

Meanwhile, some displaced residents headed for hotel rooms about 30 kilometres away in Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L., while others were expected to head to Gander, N.L., an hour’s drive away.

With 40 centimetres of snow in the forecast for Sunday night into Monday and Tuesday, Butt said the extra weight on the river ice probably won’t help at all. “Hopefully it doesn’t hurt it,” he said.

The community was threatened by a wildfire last summer. And in 2003, the entire town was evacuated after a flood that reached a 100-year level.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2026.

— By Michael MacDonald in Halifax