Second flood in as many weeks wreaks havoc in Foothills

By Ryan Laverty
Staff Reporter

Just when Denise Patterson thought she’d averted disaster the road in front of her Black Diamond home went from a couple of puddles to a raging river last Friday night.
Pounding rain and snowcap melt off from the Rocky Mountains flooded the Foothills again on the weekend, this time leaving a number of Black Diamond residents with as much as four feet of water in their basements.
“I was bailing out the yard trying to stop the water from seeping in,” said Patterson. “I thought I’d beaten it, but when I went down into the basement and stepped on the carpet I found out it was actually floating. The water was coming in through my sewer drain and before I knew it there was two and a half feet of water in my basement.”
Somehow Patterson knew the worse was yet to come because at 9 p.m. she called a friend from Turner Valley to come pick her up. By 10 p.m. Patterson’s neighbour, Scott (he didn’t want his last name used) said a river was flowing down 2nd Street SW.
“I’ve lived on this street for 14 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Scott said, noting that he had lived in Patterson’s house for some of those years. “The irrigation canal at the end of the street overflowed and it just started coming down the street.”
Mayor Rolly Magee contacted Big Eagle Hydro Vac and Nitrogen Services out of Medicine Hat shortly after the flooding began to help alleviate the town’s growing number of water-filled basements. Six trucks pulled into town at about 9 p.m. and another seven arrived around 10 a.m. The drivers spent the weekend pumping thousands of litres of water.
“As fast as they’re pumping it, it’s coming back in,” said Scott, who had about 110,000 cubic metres of water removed by 11 a.m. Saturday. “They just can’t keep up with it.”
Residents across the Foothills were forced to either leave their homes or wage a futile fight against the raging waters.
The Sheep River caused the bridge between Black Diamond and Turner Valley to be closed at around 10 p.m. on Friday night as the water rose to within a foot of the bridge floor.
With major flooding in and around Millarville, Turner Valley was essentially an island until the waters receded early Saturday, with all major entry and exit roads cut off.
In Okotoks volunteers, home owners and business owners were up until the early hours of the morning Saturday after the Sheep River turned downtown into a lake around 2 a.m.
The water rose higher and faster than the flood that hit the town a week earlier, leaving as much as four feet of water on Elizabeth Street just east of Northridge Drive.
High River was also hit with another wave of flooding from the Highwood River. Residents in the neighbourhoods of Beachwood Estates, Wallaceville and the Willows were once again required to evacuate their homes as the Highwood poured over its banks, closing much of the downtown core.
Likewise, campers along the Sheep River in Black Diamond were forced to evacuate at around 5 p.m. on Friday as the waters continued to rise.
“Obviously with that being one of the lowest lying points in town we had them moved immediately,” said Joanne Irwin, public relations officer for Black Diamond disaster relief services.
The Black Diamond Gospel Chapel set up a reception centre for residents and campers looking for refuge from the water. Irwin said about a dozen people turned up for varying lengths of time.
Vacuum trucks were still pumping basements in Black Diamond on Monday morning.
“There is never any rhyme or reason to these sorts of things,” said Irwin. “We’ve heard different stories from all over town. People all over have been flooded, but then there are some people who are surrounded by flooded basements and they haven’t been hit at all.
“But there is certainly a whole lot of damage and a whole lot of disaster here.”
To combat that damage a disaster relief fund has been set up at Black Diamond’s Alberta Treasury Branches location. Anyone able to make a donation is encouraged to do so.
In addition, the Town of Black Diamond will hold a flood information night on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Oilfields Regional Arena.
Disaster services and town council will be on hand gathering and giving information on such things as the flood damages, how to clean up flooded basement including resetting furnaces and hot water heaters.
Irwin encouraged everyone to attend the meeting.