Redford visits flood-soaked Fort Mcmurray
Premier praises efforts of volunteers
Premier Alison Redford was in Fort McMurray Friday afternoon surveying the flood damage and talking to locals and officials.
Conditions are improving after a flood warning was downgraded to a flood watch as the water level on the Hangingstone River started to drop. The area has been under a local state of emergency for four days.
“Their first day off school and this is what they’re doing, filling sandbags,” Redford told CTV News. “It’s an amazing community. Every single time I come here, I’m impressed.”
Redford said provincial emergency services are on standby if the municipality decides it needs the help.
An Environment Canada weather warning for the region has also been lifted. Up to 15 mm of rain remains in the forecast for Saturday. Up to 30 mm is expected in some areas Saturday and Sunday.
People have been warned to stay away from riverbanks as additional rain could further erode hillsides and riverbanks.
Should large chunks of the bank across from the evacuated Grayling Terrace area fall into the river, it could create a dam and flood homes. And there are also fears that if a water main in the area is damaged, it could prompt 900 people to flee — in addition to more than 430 who have already been evacuated.
Brad Grainger, deputy chief of operations for Regional Emergency Services, said 37 people initially refused to leave the Grayling Terrace area, but some of those have now left on the advice of emergency crews in the area.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo announced Thursday it was ordering further mandatory evacuations to the Grayling Terrace area and the southern portion of Draper Road because of flooding of the Hangingstone River and concerns the Clearwater River will spill its banks. Further erosion has taken place in the southerly portion of Draper Road, where workers are shoring up the Draper Road bridge.
Samantha Cover and her three children left their home in Grayling Terrace Thursday afternoon when the mandatory evacuation order was issued.
“I’m surprised that we were evacuated, honestly,” she said. “I know that most of my neighbours have stayed in their houses. They’re more worried about looting than flooding.”
The RCMP said they are patrolling evacuated areas to ensure public safety.
While Cover said the flooding situation in her neighbourhood is not that bad, those whose homes face the riverbank are seeing the shoreline come closer and closer. There was once a forested area and a path along the riverbank and that’s eroded away. Cover said it was about five to 10 metres wide.
“We’re just looking at that huge hill that is sloughing and eroding into the river,” she said.
Municipal staff said in a news release Friday that intensive repair work is also in progress on the shoreline in Grayling Terrace where they will install large angular boulders along the shoreline to prevent further erosion.
But Cover said she’s disappointed with the municipality’s lack of co-operation in getting sandbagging materials to volunteers.
“We’ve had a lot of trouble with the city helping us out. They said they weren’t going to provide us with anything, initially. When we threatened to go to the media, they gave us one pile of dirt and that’s all they gave us, after that we had to contact private suppliers ourselves to get the sand.”
Meanwhile, the municipality announced Thursday it is partnering with Volunteers Wood Buffalo to co-ordinate the local volunteer effort.
Melissa Blake, the mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, commended the outpouring of community support, adding how crucial it is to continue the volunteer effort after the state of emergency is resolved.
“It is usually after the immediate crisis is over that the real need for volunteers begins,” Blake said in a news release.
On Tuesday night, residents from the Ptarmigan Court Trailer Park were forced to find shelter elsewhere after a mandatory evacuation notice was implemented there.
Repair work is underway at the trailer park, while remediation adjacent to the Tolen Drive retaining wall is complete as is the berm in Heritage Park.
A voluntary evacuation order remains in place for Waterways and remaining parts of Draper.
A boil-water advisory issued Tuesday by Alberta Health Services has been rescinded for Waterways residents.
More than 400 residents have registered at the Frank Lacroix Arena in Beacon Hill, where seven residents stayed overnight Thursday.
Atco has run a temporary gas line into Waterways and activated the line Wednesday evening. Workers will be helping residents light pilot lights.
Water has closed some roads in and around the city, including the only road into a Suncor work site.
Company spokeswoman Kelli Stevens said some workers were deemed essential and remain at the site to keep “everything running safely.” They have enough food and water, she said.
“We’re doing what we can to fix the road as quickly as possible, but that, of course, is dependent on weather.”