Thursday, June 24, 2010 — THE MEDICINE HAT NEWS
Landslides, flooding in Elkwater leave their mark
Landslides, fl ooding in Elkwater leave their mark
GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com
Another heavy rainstorm pounded Elkwater Monday afternoon.
“The rain is very heavy,” said Peter Swain, head of visitors’ services for Elkwater in a telephone interview just after noon. “All the reservoirs are already full. There is just nowhere for this rain to go.”
Flooding and landslides, which began in Elkwater on June 18, has left people scrambling to get ready for visitors booked for the long weekend.
Photo Submitted by Alberta Parks Land slumps onto the Ferguson Hill Road in Elkwater. Fifty per cent of the campgrounds were not only washed out by water but by landslides as well.
“About 50 per cent of our campgrounds were washed out by the fl oods and various landslides,” said Gerald Otto, manager for GRF Management Ltd. said Monday. “Landslides on hills have also resulted in some roads being blocked.”
Reesor Lake, a large spring-fed waterbody located southeast of the Elkwater townsite, is still in fl ood and inaccessible, said Swain.
Elkwater didn’t waste any time getting contractors started on the clearing process.
“They’re already clearing campsites, mudslides and putting safety barriers in place along roads,” said Otto.
Rob Renner, Medicine Hat MLA and Environment Minister, was touring the region on Monday.
With general fl ood waters beginning to recede Otto anticipates having an idea later in the week of how things look for the long weekend.
Exactly how long it will take to clear all roads and have facilities back to normal Otto isn’t sure. He laughs at the idea of it perhaps taking months.
“I hope it won’t. If we have nice weather that will really facilitate the contractors.”
In the short term Otto says at least half of the campgrounds are in good shape and people can expect to fi nd the surrounding area agreeable.
11
Truckers on detour from hell
AMANDA STEPHENSON
astephenson@medicinehatnews.com
The football fi eld-sized crater in the Trans- Canada Highway near Maple Creek, Sask., had truckers grumbling Monday, as they arrived in Medicine Hat hours behind schedule.
“It’s been a real pain,” said Doug Kelly, a semi driver who was stopped for a break at Trukkers in Redcliff, on his way back from delivering a load in Taber. Kelly drove from Manitoba all the way up Highway 16 to Saskatoon, then down Highway 7 through Kindersley, across to Hanna, and south on Highway 36 to avoid the fl ood-ravaged Trans-Canada.
“I’ve never experienced anything like it, not because of Highway 1 being closed.”
Michael Carl — a trucker from Illinois — arrived in Medicine Hat seven hours behind schedule, after detouring north onto Highway 4 at Swift Current, then taking Highway 7 through Kindersley to Highway 9, and then taking Highway 41 south through Oyen.
“It was 300 miles out of my way,” Carl said, adding that in his 20-year career, he has never had to take such a signifi cant detour.
“Most are just a couple of miles, around the block or under a bridge,” he said with a laugh.
Carl said he will get paid more for his extra time and mileage, but acknowledged a lot of money is being lost as long as the Trans- Canada Highway remains closed.
“Lots of big companies have penalties they have to pay for late deliveries,” he said.
Corey Bowley, another semi driver from Manitoba, agreed.
“A lot of big companies haul 250-300 foot trailers on the double lane highway, and on this detour they’re not able to do that,” Bowley said. “They’ll have to split their load and haul each trailer separately, and that will be costing them a lot of money too.”
Doug Wakabayashi, spokesperson for Saskatchewan’s Department of Highways, told the News the highway will not be reopened any earlier than the end of this week. In addition to the massive crater on the westbound lanes, close to 75 metres of the passing lane on the eastbound section were also washed away.
“We have a very aggressive effort under way right now to do some temporary repairs to the eastbound lanes,” Wakabayashi said. “By tomorrow, we should have something in the order of 50 trucks hauling aggregate to the site, and we already have a contractor in place adding material to the base to stabilize it.”
Reopening the Trans-Canada will also depend on the situation on the Alberta side, just west of the Saskatchewan boundary, where parts of the highway are still under water. There are also safety concerns in areas where parts of the shoulder were destroyed.
Calling it a “once-in-500-years” fl ood event, Wakabayashi said it is too early to put a price tag on the repairs that will be required.
“The repairs to the westbound lanes, where it was worst hit at Eagle Creek (near Maple Creek), we have to go all the way back to the design stage for,” Wakabayashi said. “So once we have a design, we’ll have a better handle on a cost estimate.”
Approximately 4,700 vehicles travel that section of the Trans-Canada Highway daily.
Want To Help But Don’t Know How?
The Community Foundation gave its fi rst grant in 1996, gifting funds to the City of Medicine Hat to assist in fl ood relief for the victims of the 1995 fl ood.
Our Help Is Needed Again.
41027074•06/24/10
re happy to assist our donors in directing funds appropriately. If you want to help those affected by the recent flooding, consider a gif to the Community F Assistance F
be distributed to our community’s charitable organizations that are ready to serve those most in need.
anizations that are ready to serve those most in need.
Proud Member of Community Foundations of Canada
We’re happy to assist our donors in directing funds appropriately. If you want to help those fected by the recent fl ooding, consider a gift to the Community Foundation’s Immediate Assistance Fund. This non-endowed fund will be distributed to our community’s c
This non-endowed fund will
Contact us today for more information: 403.527.9038 430 6th Ave SE, Rm 104
www.mhcf.ca or
info@mhcf.ca Twitter: @ CFMH
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