Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River Valley continued to rage Wednesday. The water levels rose three metres in 24 hours. Alberta Environment warned the city to expect it to increase up to four metres.
“The water has trended upward and continues to do so,” Chris Ward, with the city’s utility services, said.
He explained the rate of increase is slowing down, but the water levels are still going up.
“How high will it go? We’re still waiting and monitoring,” Ward said at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The water was flowing at a rate of about 1,200 cubic metres a second, Ward said.
“Four times more volume is coming through the city right now than there was 24 hours ago.”
READ MORE: North Saskatchewan River expected to rise 3-4 metres in 12 hours
It prompted the city to close low-lying trails, close flood gates and put up signage in affected areas.
“The river has not yet crested,” Ward explained. “But it is not… expected to rise to a point where we are concerned about impacts on private property in Cloverdale, Riverdale or Rossdale.”
“We haven’t heard any concerns from citizens at this point.”
On Wednesday evening, Global News spoke to Jason Penner, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development’s public affairs officer, who said the river was expected to crest sometime Wednesday night and for water levels to decrease Thursday.
Penner added the river’s water levels could return to normal ranges by the weekend.
Residents who see drainage issues on their property or street are asked to call 311.
Ward said the city has not yet mobilizing its sandbag plan. The river would have to rise an additional 2.5 to 3 metres to reach the lowest-lying properties, he said. If the river goes up another one metre, the sandbagging preparation would begin; an another two metres and the city would bring sandbags down to the river.
Ward said it’s currently “still within the safe zone.”
On Wednesday morning the city announced the following trails had been closed due to flooding:
- Lower Highlands granular trail
- Capilano to Goldbar lower granular trail
- Emily Murphy to Kinsmen granular trail
- Fort Edmonton granular trail.
“The river has gone up two-and-a-half metres in the last 24 hours,” Jay Esterer, owner of the Edmonton Queen Riverboat, said.
Esterer said the river is supposed to peak at noon and it’s flowing six times faster than normal.
“That’s somewhere around 1,400 or 1,500 cubic metres per second. Normally, this time of year, the flow rate would be around 220 cubic metres a second. So, it’s quite a lot of water.”
He said the water puts a huge strain on the ropes that hold the riverboat in place.
“We want to make sure that the ropes – cables – holding the boat in place don’t break,” he said. “That has happened on three other occasions… Apparently if the boat floats downstream by itself and touches one of the bridges, that would trigger a very expensive bridge inspection.”
Esterer said the water levels were high last month too. At one point, there was so much debris, it created an island of sorts that he could walk on to get to the boat. They had to manually clear the debris.
Raw video: The city and Edmonton Fire Rescue Services provide an update on the North Saskatchewan River, which has risen three metres in the last 24 hours.
“I came down just to see how high the river levels are,” Maria Seerattan, who lives in the area, said. “A couple of years ago, it actually flooded in the area, so I’m just a concerned citizen.”
“I’ve seen debris, logs and they’re moving pretty quickly.”
“This is definitely a change even from a few weeks ago… You could see sand in the middle of the water and now it’s just really high and moving quickly.”
Watch below: Debris, high water levels and raging currents are sweeping through the city as the North Saskatchewan River continues to rise. Kendra Slugoski has the latest.
On Tuesday, city officials warned residents to stay away from the river. Water levels were forecast to see a “dramatic increase” due to heavy rainfall in the foothills.
Alberta Environment said recent rainfall brought brought between 30 to 80 millimetres of precipitation to parts of central and northern Alberta, with local areas receiving up to 100 millimetres, or nearly four inches. The foothills, stretching from Swan Hills to Sundre, received the highest amount of rain. A large swath of that stretch makes up the North Saskatchewan River watershed.
Edmonton Fire Services Acting Platoon Chief Randy Shakura said if you see someone fall in the river, call 911 and instruct the person to face downstream and put their feet up. Do not try to rescue this person.
On Wednesday, Shakura thanked people for avoiding the river. Fire crews haven’t had to respond to any calls involving a river rescue of any kind.
“We would like to thank the public for respecting our wishes to stay away from the river,” he said. “The fact that we really haven’t had any activity out there is testament to the public.”
The only call Edmonton Fire Rescue Services received was regarding an overturned boat floating down the river. No people were involved. Shakura said fire crews wouldn’t focus on recovery or removal efforts.
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