Riverflows still rising as heavy rains move on
Posted Jun 19, 2014 4:52 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province said as many as 500 homes have experienced some sort of flooding because of heavy rain in the southwest Alberta.
On the Blood Reserve, 130 homes have flooded and 350 people were forced to leave.
In Lethbridge, 300 homes have been damaged, most due to sewer backups.
In Claresholm, as many as 40 homes have damaged by rainwater that overwhelmed sewer systems.
Forecasters say the storm that soaked the area for most of the week is petering out and it’s now a matter of monitoring the rivers as they crest.
Thursday morning, the municipality of Taber and the Town of Magrath became the latest of several communities to declare a state of local emergency.
On Thursday, the province called a flood watch for the Sheep River at Black Diamond, the Threepoint Creek and Mosquito Creek in the Oldman River Basin.
A high stream flow advisory has also been issued for Little Bow River in the Oldman River Basin and the Bow River through the Siksika First Nation, just downstream of Calgary.
Evan Friesenhan, director of river Forecasting with Alberta Environment, said the Oldman River at Lethbridge, will still raise another half meter before cresting and a 2.4 meters rise is still expected through Medicine Hat by Saturday.
“In the Bow Basin, which got that high intensity precipitation, the Highwood River is currently rising. We’ve seen 1.25 meters in rise and we could get about .5 meters,” said Ferisenhan.
Up to 10 mm of rain is still expected before the storm system completely tapers off in southern Alberta overnight.
High River is awaiting the expected midnight peak of the Highwood River.
Len Zebedee, deputy director of emergency operations in High River, said there should be no concern as the mitigation measures in place are looking good.
“The diking and berm systems are looking wonderful around High River. We don’t expect any flooding in High River except for pooling in the Wallaceville area. We’re just monitoring things, keeping an eye on our storm systems from last year,” said Zebedee.
He said no evacuation order or voluntary evacuation has been called at this time.
Stephen Carr, with Alberta Emergency Management Agency, said the province is very fortunate things worked out the way they did and they are now focusing on helping in Claresholm and the significantly damaged areas of the Blood Reserve.
“We’re putting a lot of focus on those communities and ensuring that they’re well supported as they still deal with their response and hopefully enter into recovery in the near future,” said Carr.
The current level three response from the province is expected to remain through Saturday when peak river levels reach Medicine Hat.
(With files from the Canadian Press)
