Watson Lake Mayor Richard Durocher is impressed with how his community handled the massive influx of highway travellers over the last few days.

"And that is not me bragging,” Durocher said in an interview this morning. "That is a community that pulled together.

"We have people walking into the town office saying what a fantastic little town they stayed in.”

Durocher said the community of 1,500-plus came together to make people as comfortable as possible, stuffing stranded commercial truck and passenger vehicles into every little nook and cranny.

Hotels were chock-full, people were sleeping in their cars and and others were setting up camp next to their vehicles, said the mayor.

"The downtown core was as busy as I have ever seen in the 33 years I've lived here. But we had a lot of capacity left.

"Even if the highway was closed for another three or four days, we could have provided for them.”

Durocher estimates there were about 400 vehicles of all types backed up in Watson Lake as crews were dealing with the massive washout of the Alaska Highway near Rancheria.

"I was worried a bit that people might start to become agitated and antsy, but it did not happen.”

The Grade 12 high school students, for example, put on a chili and movie night for stranded travellers, he pointed out.

Durocher said the various Yukon government and municipal departments did a commendable job in responding to the emergency situation, from personnel with the Emergency Measurers Organization to the town's bylaw staff.

Meanwhile, traffic has been flowing smoothly since the highway reopened Monday evening with the completion of a rough one-lane detour around the washout at Canyon Creek, near Rancheria.

Meanwhile, freight outlets in Whitehorse were busy this morning dealing with the backlog. It's expected a higher volume of grocery and other transport trucks will be seen over the next couple of days as stores get back up to their normal inventories.

Though the waters of the Liard River continue to recede, they're still well above the flood level and several displaced residents of Upper Liard are unable to return to their homes.

Hydrologist Ric Janowicz of Environment Yukon expects the river will not return to below flood levels until Saturday.

The river peaked at 1.9 metres above the flood stage last Sunday morning. It has since fallen by 1.2 metres but remained 77 centimetres above the flood level at 7 a.m. today.

Janowicz said the river level has been receding by about one centimetre an hour in the last 24 hours.

The Liard peaked a full metre above the previous high recorded in 1972, and slightly more than a metre above the peak that caused the flooding in 2007, records indicate.

Janowicz has described the high waters across the southern Yukon as unprecedented; the product of a perfect storm caused by above-average spring rains combining with an above-average snowpack in the mountains.

The low-lying area at Upper Liard was evacuated early Sunday morning, a couple of hours before the rushing river breached the protective dike.

Officials have not yet been able to provide a damage estimate, though it's expected to be significant.

Vald Petrlak, owner of the Upper Liard Highway Lodge, said he understands at least one of the 11 flooded residences was pushed off its foundation.

The Daylu Dena Council of Lower Post, B.C. is also continuing to deal with flooding in its community and residents who've had to leave their homes.

Government spokesman Matt King said the five members of the team who were mobilized to co-ordinate emergency services in Watson Lake have returned to their regular duties.

But services are still being provided by staff at the community's local office of the Department of Health and Social Services, he said.

King said the 13 displaced residents of Upper Liard can contact the office to make long-term arrangements for food and shelter.

It's believed many moved in with friends and family, but there are services available, he said.

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