Due to excessive winds, the entire south central part of Alberta felt like Lethbridge for a day.

Winds reached up to 100 km per hour on top of the hill, with Keoma reaching the highest recorded wind strength of 117 km.

In Drumheller, no record breaking winds occurred but damage was evident.

“It was pretty minimal overall like there was a couple of downed trees, like there was a tree that fell over by Riverside Park,” said Darryl Drohemerski, Director of Infrastructure Services.

According to Environment Canada, reports from last night’s winds reached just under 100 km per hour in Morrin and Hand Hills area.

Work crews including the Town of Drumheller and Carillion work have worked seamlessly to discard any debris that may have obstructed homes and roadways.

“We work well together between the Town and Carillion to kind of make sure that we’re not inconveniencing our residents or visitors by determining who’s responsibility it is,” said Drohemerski.

At approximately 10:30 p.m. last night, Drumheller Fire crew responded to a tree that had fallen across the North Dinosaur Trail near the Dinosaur RV Resort, where they worked tirelessly through wind and rain to clear it.

On another note, no reports indicated water levels rising enough to cause flooding within the valley.

“‘It was more of a spray than a heavy downpour so it was just more of the wind,” said Drohemerski.

The Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club has closed down this morning as many of trees and branches have littered the course.

A tree branch was found on another tree, causing it to lean onto a power pole near DVSS, ultimately causing some power issues.

“ATCO is dealing with the tree right now,” said Drohemerski.

More than one power issue happened last night as Rosedale was completely out of power due to arcing from some trees where they continually hit power poles.

As calls come into the public works branch, workers will deal with the situation.

Citizens are urged to call the Public Works Office at 403-823-1330 or call the Town office at where you will be redirected.

Anyone is also encouraged to share their information and problems on the Town of Drumheller Facebook page. Any major problems on evenings or weekends can be directed to the after-hours phone number at 403-823-2512.

“There’s a lot of the cities recovering from extensive trees and a lot of the wind damage as a result of that storm but it seems that we were lucky and escaped the brunt of that storm,” said Drohemerski.

    The summer season is here, and it was an incredibly busy weekend for the valley.
    The unofficial beginning of the tourism season is May Long Weekend. A quick drive through the valley saw attractions bursting at the seams. Roads were filled with bicyclists, motorcycles, RV’s and all kinds of family trucksters taking in all the valley has to offer.
    On Sunday afternoon the Atlas Coal Mine celebrated its centennial and the birthday cake lasted only minutes. The site was busy all day, and their overflow parking filled.
    The Royal Tyrrell Museum saw line-ups throughout the day, with visitors streaming to explore the galleries. The museum saw 16,665 visitors over the holiday weekend, up 9 per cent over last year. Sunday saw 5,738 visitors alone.
     Carrie Ann Lunde, head of marketing and public relations for the Tyrrell, says they expect a busy season, and already had a strong kick off with record numbers during the Family Day weekend.
    “We expect to be very busy. Last year was a record-breaking year at the museum, and we are about on par this year in term of numbers,” she said. “While we are down a little this year, we are still up 14 per cent over the five-year average.”
    One reason to expect the busy 2017 is the amount of press the museum has been receiving, related to its new exhibit that features the Nodosaur. While most of the Tyrrell’s visitation comes from right here in Alberta, this might spur more international visitors.
    “The sheer amount of media coverage I am still fielding from the nodosaur, I think it is going to be busy,” she said “There might be some trickle down too because a lot of the coverage we are getting is international I had a TV outlet from Bangladesh here yesterday, and another coming from Germany. So we could see some increase in international numbers over the next few years.”
    She adds that part of her role is to look at how to increase visitorship, and the Museum has been working hard meeting both, local and international operators to take another look at Drumheller.
    “The more we go to international trade shows and get more tour operators to come out here, and the more profile we can get with news internationally all contributes,” she said.