In response to the flooding in the Southern Lakes and Lake Laberge areas, the Tourism Industry Association of Yukon, in collaboration with the Yukon Government, has partnered with tourism operators to provide free shuttles for volunteers filling sandbags.
Shuttle services will leave from the White Pass Building on Front and Main Street, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, and will take volunteers to sandbag stations in Lake Laberge, Marsh Lake, Carcross or Tagish — depending on where help is needed most.
The shuttle service this week is provided by Who What Where Tours. The week’s schedule and most up-to-date information about the shuttle service can be found on tiayukon.com.
People will need to bring water, food, sunscreen, bug spray, a shovel and masks. The shuttle service is first-come, first-served.
Blake Rogers, TIA Yukon’s executive director, said the shuttle service idea was born after the team volunteered to fill sandbags in Carcross on June 9.
“When we were out there we ran into a lot of other people that were helping out,” said Rogers. “I went to check the water level and thought ‘wow’ it’s incredibly high and it’s clear it’s an urgent situation and we need as many people as possible.”
On the drive back from Carcross, the TIA Yukon team was thinking of ways to help the community. That’s how the shuttle idea came to be.
Tourism operators have the capacity to move people around the territory.
It was a quick turnaround from idea to fruition.
“Right now, we are in a crisis and people are moving fast, the water is not waiting for anyone to put forward a perfect plan,” said Rogers. “We wanted to do what we can as quickly as we could.”
The shuttle service will run as long as TIA Yukon can.
“Hopefully we won’t need to go for that long but unfortunately we are expecting it to be needed for quite some time,” said Rogers. “It sounds like there are more sandbags that need to be filled and volunteers to fill them.”
In the foreseeable future, Rogers said the shuttle will run at least until the end of the month.
“If we can stop running the shuttle that will be a good day,” said Rogers.
For questions about the shuttle service, people are encouraged to email info@tiayukon.com.
Contact John Tonin at john.tonin@yukon-news.com