Media reports of Drumheller flooding inaccurate: town
- Details
- Published on Friday, 25 March 2011 09:44
- Written by © DrumhellerMail.com
Some municipalities in Southern Alberta in the Cypress Hills and Medicine Hat areas are preparing for flood concerns due to the melt of a record snowfall. The province of Alberta has provided $1.2 million to help people in southeastern Alberta prepare for flooding.
On March 16, a television news story was aired on a Calgary TV station about the flooding in southern Alberta. At the end of the story the news anchor mentioned that “there are reports of flooding in other parts of the province including the Drumheller area and Highway 3.”CAO for the Town of Drumheller, Ray Romanetz said, “The mention of Drumheller in the story is inaccurate as there are no indications that Drumheller will be in danger of flooding right now. Currently in Drumheller we are experiencing a spring melt, not a flood.” Mr. Romanetz went on to explain, “When it gets warm again, we may see some water pools on the street or wet basements, but there are no flood conditions present. If there is a flood forecast, we would be working with Alberta Environment and implementing our disaster services plan.”
Alberta Environment confirmed that currently there is no flood danger for Drumheller. They explained that the snow in the Red Deer Basin headwaters is average; however there is more snow on the plains which could account for localized flooding in certain areas of the province. If a flood were to occur in Drumheller it would be a combination of mountain and ground snow melt with a heavy rainfall combination. The last flood in Drumheller was in June of 2005.
Drumheller is experiencing some localized flooding resulting from frozen culverts and snow accumulations in back alleys.
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