Many of the roadways closed due to overland flooding in Mountain View (MVC) and Red Deer counties last week have now reopened – although some in MVC remained closed at press time Thursday.
All of the roads that had been closed in Red Deer County (RDC) due to flooding near the Little Red Deer River are back in operation.
“The roads that were closed have been reopened. Although, as weather changes, obviously we have to react accordingly,” said Tyler Harke, communications manager with RDC.
Five roads in Mountain View County (MVC) were reopened last week. These include Rge. Rd. 282, Rge. Rd. 283, Twp. Rd. 320 (Bergen Road), Rge. Rd. 273 and Twp. Rd. 312A.
Roads that remain closed, at press time Thursday, were: Rge. Rd. 40 (Harmattan Road) between Twp. Rd. 320 and Twp. Rd. 322; Twp. Rd. 294A between Rge. Rd. 282 and Rge. Rd. 283; Rge. Rd. 281 between Twp. Rd. 314 and Twp. Rd. 320; Twp. Rd. 314 between Rge. Rd. 271 and Rge. Rd. 272.
Andrew Wild, communications coordinator with MVC, said he isn't sure if the worst is over. He said the overland flooding is a result of the larger than normal Prairie snowpack this year.
The melt of the snowpack is moving north through the county, he said, including near Olds and in the Sundre area. But because there are more trees in the Sundre area, the snowpack melts more slowly, he noted.
“We expect that there's still going to be some runoff in those areas. As to what impact that's going to have, who knows,” he said.
“We just want people to be aware that the runoff could continue, especially if we get a lot more snow too and precipitation.”
MVC officials established local advisories the week before last, and they sent an advisory out through the Alberta Emergency Alert for people to stay away from low-lying areas.
The melting of the snowpack has created issues for road infrastructure, filling small creeks and streams and overwhelming culverts, he said.
“We are kind of seeing things progress as we kind of expected they would – particularly with this amount of snow. And so I guess we will see how things go going forward here,” he said.
MVC officials have been keeping the public updated through social media and the county's website.
