Traffic is flowing again between Dawson City and Alaska along the Top of the World Highway, but the Taylor Highway into Eagle, Alaska remains largely impassable.

While a return to more normal highway tourist traffic for Dawson is being welcomed, the search continues for a U.S. customs officer whose vehicle was discovered in a raging creek a week ago today.

The Top of the World and Taylor were closed last week after a quick and heavy rainfall in the area washed away several sections of highway.

The stretch of the Taylor Highway leading to the beginning of Top of the World on the Alaska side of the border re-opened Sunday evening.

There is, however, a 16-kilometre section along the Taylor – about 24 kilometres west of the border – where there is only single-lane traffic guided by a pilot car.

Bill Holmes of the Klondike Visitor Association (KVA) said today the seven days of downtime in highway travel between Dawson and Alaska have hit the local tourism industry hard.

And with the Taylor Highway into Eagle still closed, Holland America is feeling the pinch because it's lost its highway connection to Eagle and the ability to complete is regular loop between Dawson and Eagle using the Yukon Queen river boat, he said.

"I have heard several operators within our town say (the highway closure) has caused a substantial economic hit,” Holmes said.

The KVA's marketing and events manager said there's been a loss through cancelled reservations, changes to entire travel plans by highway travellers, lost meals, trailer stall rentals and so forth.

Trips across the Top of the World Highway – going to or coming from Alaska – are planned months if not a year in advance, so losing the highway even for just a week caused a noticeable shift in travel plans, he said.

Up until then, Holmes explained, local operators were reporting a good year, much better than last, though numbers in 2009 were down significantly.

Eagle resident John Borg said today there have been issues in the decade since the Taylor Highway opened in the mid-1950s – washouts here and there, rock slides....

But nobody's has seen anything like was happened a week ago Sunday, he said.

In a period of 24 hours, Borg recalled, the amount of rainfall was unprecedented.

The 42-year resident of Eagle said just under four centimetres (1.5 inches) fell in Eagle. Over at Fortymile, five centimetres (two inches) were recorded, and up the highway at Chicken, 7.6 centimetres (three inches) fell.

Borg said in the all the years Larry Taylor has been keeping track of the water level at the bridge across the Fortymile River, he's never seen anything like the runoff he witnessed.

The river, according to Taylor's calculations, rose six metres (20 feet) in 24 hours, Borg said.

"The Yukon River came up four feet (in front of Eagle), and most of it came out of the Fortymile because there was no rise in front of Dawson,” he said. There was a lot of water, with trees and sticks, fuel barrels . . . dredges.

"A lot of people lost mining equipment.”

When there is that much rainfall on ground dominated by permafrost, there's very little saturation and extreme amounts of runoff, said Borg.

He said the 150 residents of the community and surrounding area are making do so far with the groceries on hand on the Eagle Trading Post and what they have themselves.

Bulk groceries delivered by airmail are normal in Eagle, he said.

Borg said while the Taylor is officially closed, some locals have been making it through, though it is sketchy.

There was talk today about a convoy out tomorrow, as there are people in Eagle who were visiting but have to get back, he said.

Meadow Baily, with Alaska's Department of Transportation, said today there are assessment teams out in the field determining what needs to be done to bring the Taylor into full operational status.

Highway maintenance supervisor Clark Milne estimates it will take two weeks to restore that portion of the Taylor into Eagle to acceptable standards. He suspects crews won't be able to achieve full restoration before the highway closes for the winter this fall.

In the last week, Milne guestimated, the state has probably spent anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 US making repairs.

He said the tab could reach up to a million dollars or more, depending on the type of material required and its availability in the immediate area.

Meanwhile, the SUV driven by border security officer Charles Collins was removed today from O'Brien Creek, State Trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said this morning.

Ipsen said a report of vehicle tracks disappearing off the Taylor Highway were received a week ago.

When troopers reached the site, they spotted a silver SUV at the bottom of a 60-metre embankment, sitting in the middle of the raging creek, she explained.

Ipsen said attempts by rescue workers tethered from a helicopter to probe inside the vehicle were unsuccessful because of the dangerous conditions.

When the vehicle was removed this morning, however, there was no body inside, and the windows had been busted out.

Ipsen said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which employs all border security personnel, was arranging to have a dog brought up from the lower 48 states to assist in the search, which has been extensive so far.

While time diminishes hope, one never knows, she said.