Thursday, June 24, 2010 — THE MEDICINE HAT NEWS Flood of the


Photo Submitted by Alberta Parks A landslide results from the amount of water onto Lakeview Drive leading to Firerock campground on Friday, June 18.


Flood of the century strikes


ALEX MCCUAIG amccuaig@medicinehatnews.com


They are calling it the fl ood of the century in the Cypress Hills after a 100 mm of rain has fallen on the already soaked ground and forcing campers to be evacuated from the provincial park.


In a telephone interview from Elkwater townsite, park spokesperson Peter Swain said by June 17, they were already well above the normal amounts of rain for June.


"We're about 400 per cent above average for rainfall for the month. As of last night, we had another 100 mm of rain."


Swain said the biggest problems have occurred due the ground already being saturated, "so there is nowhere for the rain to go. We have extensive localized fl ooding, and lots of small slumping around the park."


And while Highway 41 is closed, those still in the park are being brought out Highway 514 when conditions allow with no vehicles allowed into the Hills.


"We expect things to get a little bit worse before they get better," said Swain.


The main Elkwater campsite has been completely submerged with a few exceptions and cottages have managed


Photo Submitted by Alberta Parks Flood waters hit the D loop of the of the Elkwater Campgroup with a vingeance on Friday, June 18.


century strikes Alberta Cypress Hills


Alberta Cypress Hills


Flood shuts down Sask. Cypress Hills park


CHRIS JASTER Prairie Post


The fl ood waters that swept over Highway 21 and into Maple Creek didn't just shut down the town, it also caused Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park to close for the fi rst time in its history.


The park shut down on June 18 after staff feared the roads leading into the park were washed out.


"We closed the park and campers couldn't get there anyway," said Brant Seifert, a park supervisor at Cypress Hills. "We only closed for the day, but we're open now."


Seifert, who is the park's emergency measures operation co-ordinator, and the rest of the park staff were notifi ed during the morning of June 18 that Highway 21 was going to be closed, so the park's management team advised other staff members who had to go to the park that they may not get in the park. They also tracked down people staying in the park and diverted them out the south exit, on Road 221, to Shaunavon, Sask.


Everyone left the park before the highway closed, except for a few equestrian campers, who were stuck in the wilderness area of the West Block section of the park.


"There were some equestrian campers who ended up staying the night at one of the barns at our ranger station, but they got out. They had a satellite phone and they were fi ne. We got them out the next day," said Seifert.


to escape serious damage, according to Swain.


For those stopping at the Medicine Hat Visitor Centre on the afternoon of June 18, the news hasn't been very good either with travelers being informed of the detour around the fl ooded Trans-Canada through Oyen.


Traveling to Maine from Vancouver Island with her husband in their RV, April


Yamaoka said she heard of the highway closure just before hitting the city limits.


"This is like our climate right on the ocean," said Yamaoka. "I knew it was unsettled weather but I wasn't expecting this."


Working the desk at the Visitor Centre, Sarah Stober said some travelers are seeking the detour while others were looking to spend the night in town.


Maple Creek Hospital evacuated


CHRIS JASTER Prairie Post


Beth Vachon wishes the Cypress Health Region didn't have to implement its emergency plans for Maple Creek on


June 18, but she's glad the plan worked well.


In response to the fl ood that swept through the west part of Maple Creek on June 18, the Cypress Health Region did everything it could to protect the people under its care, which included evacuating Maple Creek Hospital.


"(Staff) were monitoring the water level all morning and fi nally they made the decision that the water was starting to encroach toward us and we knew that if we left it any longer and we'd have to evacuate, then the roadway would have been blocked and we wouldn't be able to get anybody out," said Beth Vachon, the Cypress Health Region's CEO. "Just as a precautionary measure, we did move patients."


Of the eight in-patients at the hospital, four were discharged, one was sent to the Cypress Regional Hospital in Swift Current and three were sent to Cypress Lodge — Maple Creek's long-term care facility. The one patient seeking emergency services was also evacuated to Swift Current.


The patients returned to Maple Creek Hospital, which never took in water, on


June 19.


Although hospital patients were evacuated from Maple Creek Hospital, the emergency room portion of the health-care facility remained open during the fl ood and one physician was on-call to deal with any situations that came up.


The region also strategically placed three ambulances — one of which came from Gull Lake — around the community to make the potential response time as quick as possible.


The ambulances couldn't have stayed in the EMS building anyway as it took in water during the fl ood.


Vachon said the emergency plan for Maple Creek worked very well because of the early notice Greg Dunn, the region's emergency operations co-ordinator, received from Maple Creek Mayor Barry Rudd. Dunn quickly got the health region staff mobilized after receiving the phone call from Rudd around 5:30 a.m. and left for Maple Creek to be on the ground right at the start of the fl ood.


Dunn had more help on the scene from the health region's management team than he normally would have had as some senior managers were in town for the region's


functional-planning meeting for Maple Creek's new hospital that was scheduled for that day. That meeting was cancelled because of the fl ood and a new date has not yet been set.


Maple Creek's health services were back to normal on Saturday, one day after people were evacuated from the hospital. The hospital, which never closed during the fl ood, is still taking patients and Maple Creek's doctors continue to see patients at their clinic on Pacifi c Avenue.


"We're actually quite fortunate that none of our services other than that precautionary evacuation for those hours at the hospital (were out of) business," said Vachon.


Overall, Cypress' CEO was impressed with how the region handled the situation.


"We learned the processes and plans we have in place are effective," she said. "I think that it's unfortunate when you have to implement these things and then fi nd out something was missing, but just that early contact from the town to the region to contact us and allow us to get mobilized and working really, really closely with the community, I think it showed us all the pre- planning we've been doing for a long time is really paying off.


Although the fl ooded highways is what forced Cypress Hills to close for the day, the park also suffered fl ood damage.


The park received 296.5 millimetres of precipitation between May 1 and June 21, and the excessive precipitation that hit Cypress Hills caused the ground to become saturated and Loch Leven Lake to burst at its seams.


The fl ood inside the park hit most of the park-owned facilities, such as the administration offi ce, visitor centre offi ce and campground offi ce, fl ooding out all the basements and crawlspaces. Some cottage basements were also fl ooded.


The water also caused a road northwest of the campground offi ce to break away. That road, however, was not a main thoroughfare in the park and was mainly used as a shortcut.


The park plans to rebuild the road, along with a bigger culvert, but it is a low priority.


The Centre Block re-opened on June 19 and, although life at the park won't be back to normal for a while, Seifert doesn't think campers will encounter any major problems at the park.


"They'll see a few things with the result of the moisture we got," he said. "The ditches are full of water. We have some roads that washed out on the sides. We have barricades up and maintenance repairing and fi xing constantly. It's just that the forest and the grounds at the park are very wet.


"Things won't get back to normal for a little while until things dry up, but until tourists or any of the campers want to come to the park, we're open. Our water is safe and all our systems are running."


5


Photo courtesy Marcia Love, Maple Creek News A front end loader operator heads down Highway 21 for more dirt to block fl ood water from heading east into town.


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