HIGH RIVER – Eighty people have been forced out of their homes in High River after a mandatory evacuation of the Wallaceville area.
“Right now we’re on alert and trying to keep it so that there’s no more flooding,” said public information officer Joan Pletz.
“And doing a happy dance so it stops raining.”
An evacuation centre has been set up at Highwood High School and volunteers are filling bags with sand at the recreation centre.
“Right now we just put out another call for volunteers for sandbagging,” said Pletz.
Volunteers have been working all night, she said, and more helpers are needed at the complex.
Pletz said there are 15 centimetres to 20 cms of water in the affected area.
“The water is coming up, but I haven’t heard if it’s coming into the houses,” said Pletz.
Wallaceville resident Orvella Small left her condo last night.
Standing under a red umbrella watching the water rise on 1 Ave., on Friday morning, she said the situation is scary.
“We moved out last night so it’s quite frightening to all the families that are here.
“Our condo backs onto the river so our door backs onto the river,” she said.
“The important thing to us is we’d like to make sure our doors are sandbagged, the ones that back onto the river.”
Small said authorities have acted as quickly as they could.
“Everybody’s doing the best that they can and working as hard as they can. It looks like everybody’s responding real well to the request for help.
“I think it’s very positive, a community coming together.”
While officials continue to monitor the water, there is optimism.
“I have heard that the water is behaving itself; it’s staying in its banks and creating its own tunnel through the banks so that’s good news,” said Pletz.
Deputy mayor Tim Whitford said everything is under control.
“The river is staying pretty much in its channel. We had one dike give way at about 5:45 a.m. and we have a minor evacuation.
“We don’t have any areas that are under stress right now,” said Whitford.
He said the Highwood River is expected to crest at noon and the rain is supposed to taper off. The river level is expected to drop quickly once the rain slows down, he said, adding the town has been training for an event like this and so far people are staying calm.
“You don’t see any panic because there isn’t any panic.”
Calgary Herald
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