The overland flooding situation took a turn for the worse in the M.D. of Taber Tuesday night amid a local state of emergency.
Officials from the southern Alberta M.D. said 12 residents were forced from six homes as water from melting snow poured onto some properties. Some residents required assistance from firefighters to leave their properties.
“The melt was more than we can handle,” deputy Reeve Merrill Harris said.
Watch below: The MD of Taber provided this rescue footage showing firefighters evacuating six people from 12 homes Tuesday night.
Snow fell on the M.D. Wednesday morning and a local state of emergency remained in place. The drop in temperatures temporarily helped manage the flooding, but Harris said the snowfall has added to the problem.
“Eventually this is all going to melt and we’re going to still have a lot of water problems and overland flooding to deal with,” he said.
Harris said the M.D. is expecting the situation to worsen as near record-level runoff is anticipated.
“Most of the employees at the M.D. that have been involved in numerous floods over the last 20 or so years say this is the worst they’ve seen, the most amount of water they’ve seen at one given time, moving across the land,” he said.
Officials with the Town of Taber are also monitoring conditions there, with work underway to clear ditches and drainage areas. Town officials say they are ready to declare a state of local emergency if necessary.
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