Flooding forces 13 from homes near Taber

Thirteen people have been forced from their homes as the Municipal District of Taber continues to deal with “once in a lifetime” flooding.

Highways 864 and 36 were reopened Sunday morning after overland flooding caused their closure on Saturday. Crews are monitoring the situation and will close the roads again if necessary, RCMP said in a statement.

“Water continues to flow overland throughout the municipality and we’re expecting to see that continue overnight and into tomorrow,” Derrick Krizsan, municipal administrator for the district, said Sunday evening.

“The majority of drainage infrastructure is flowing, as expected, but because we are receiving significantly more runoff than the infrastructure can accommodate, it is leading to flooding near intersections and road approaches. We have water running over roadways that are closed, as well as additional locations that are continually being added and evaluated and addressed accordingly.”

Emergency alerts were issued Saturday and Sunday to notify residents of hazardous driving conditions.

“As ongoing flooding continues, there is a potential for public and personal safety impacts with respect to water on the road,” said Krizsan. “Barricades are in place for public safety and we’re asking people to respect them.”

Residents are also being warned that flooded water wells and cisterns should be treated as contaminated and unsafe for consumption until they are cleaned, disinfected and tested, Krizsan said.

Despite the number of evacuations, no mandatory evacuation order is in effect. Krizsan said about 40 residents were notified Sunday that they are in potential areas of high flooding and were given information on the location of an emergency reception centre.

The Town of Taber is in the clear after a state of local emergency remained in effect as of Tuesday.

“We’re in a good spot from the town perspective. We’re out of the woods, but certainly not the same for residents and businesses and infrastructure in the MD,” said Cory Armfelt, the town’s chief administrative officer and director of emergency management.

“The last few days, the Band-Aid got ripped off awfully quickly there Friday, Saturday, and the rush of water that came through went where we wanted it to go,” he said.

But flooding north of the town remains an issue. “Every area has been impacted,” said Krizsan.

Residents should take extra care when driving, especially in areas where water is flowing over roads.

“For thousands of years we’ve had water flowing and this is one of those years, kind of a once-in-alifetime thing, where you see water flowing where nobody’s ever seen water flowing there before,” Krizsan said. “Certainly, this is a unique event and certainly one that we’ll remember for some time.”