High River officials preach patience
Frustrated residents told they can’t return yet
CALGARY — As police patrolled the streets of floodravaged High River Sunday to enforce a mandatory evacuation order, politicians urged patience from frustrated residents.
RCMP went door-to-door Sunday checking 1,500 homes and searching properties for stragglers insistent on defying the compulsory order.
The southern Alberta town is mostly abandoned, but some people continue to avoid police warnings. But officials say High River is facing extraordinary circumstances and it is unsafe to remain in the area.
“As much as the damage is extensive in other communities, it is unprecedented in High River. We need to ensure public safety is there,” said Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths.
The province is working on a transition plan to help relocate evacuated residents from reception centres to more comfortable settings.
In the meantime, homeowners shouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of security because the sun is shining, he said.
The town is not safe and the earliest people will be able to return is next week.
“We’re still pushing water out, checking for road safety. You’ve got to understand: before you can get someone to go down the street to inspect houses, you have to make sure the road is safe for them to travel on.”
With no power or viable water treatment facilities, the flood is a public safety issue for the town’s 13,000 residents, said High River Mayor Emile Blokland.
Sinkholes are still a real possibility and there is no guarantee bridges are safe.
Danielle Smith, the MLA for Highwood and leader of the Wildrose Opposition, said Griffiths’ assessment of the frustration of High River residents was fair.
She said the decision to evacuate the town of the approximately 600 residents who had remained — including her — has helped ease tensions.
“I think what was occurring is that they were saying, ‘well, if my neighbour is in there why can’t I come back?’” Smith said in an interview.
She said all resources will now be focused on recovery.
“The mayor and the team locally made the decision to get everybody out so we can get every resource on the ground focused on the recovery effort and getting the infrastructure in place so that more people can return sooner,” Smith said. “So I think people will accept that. I hope they do.”
There is some comfort for displaced residents: rescuers have recovered 1,800 pets and will reunite them with their owners once they are permitted to re-enter the waterlogged town.