Innisfail groups joined scores of others across the province to help victims of The Great Flood of 2013.
On Saturday, members of the Innisfail Minor Football Association (see page 3) cancelled plans to raise money at the Esso car wash for its organization in order to have one for flood victims.
“With everything that was going on we thought it would be appropriate and we wanted to give back to the community and help out if we can,” said association president Talitha Watkinson. “I know they are just asking for monetary donations so it worked out really well.
“We had one person who donated $60. I think people really wanted to do something. There were definitely some people who were really moved,” added Watkinson.
She said the association raised $490 which was forwarded to the Red Cross in Red Deer on Monday.
“We decided to go with Alberta Red Cross because they divide it up for those who need it,” said Watkinson.
Nicole Harrison of Innisfail is collecting donations to help those flooded on the Siksika Reserve near Calgary. She's especially looking for men's clothing, blankets, cleaning supplies, maternity clothes, children's toys, camping equipment like tents and non-perishable food items.
People with donations can drop them off at her home at 4604 - 47 Avenue or at First Impressions at the Henday Mall. Citizens can also call Harrison at 403-227-6947 or 403-348-9067.
Sundre was among 27 Alberta communities in a local state of emergency at the height of what provincial officials are calling the worst flooding in Alberta's history.
By yesterday, the number of confirmed states of local emergency across the province dropped to 23, with 23 active local Emergency Operations Centres in southern Alberta, including municipalities, First Nations, and private industry (Fortis).
Sundre and it residents are in recovery mode after the Red Deer River breached its banks June 20, causing less flooding than was originally predicted.
While a state of emergency is still enacted for the municipality, town officials closed the Emergency Operations Centre Saturday and lifted the evacuation order for all those except Riverside RV Park Friday.
“Sundre dodged a bullet. We're so fortunate as a town to be basically, for lack of a better term, cleaning up minor things and fixing minor infrastructure,” said Dean Pickering, the town's chief administrative officer, yesterday morning.
“Our pumps were able to hold our infrastructures in tact, our water lines are in tact, our sewer lines are in tact, everything is functioning,” he said.
“It could have been significantly worse.”
He said the height of the Red Deer River came within a foot of the bottom of the bridge at its peak, in the middle of the night Friday, at more than 900 cubic metres per second.
“It started to go down between four-o-clock and six-o-clock Friday morning and there is still overland flooding happening right now,” he said.
“There was a breach in the county and so there is still overland flooding happening from the Red Deer River that's still flowing behind the Riverside campground. There's now a new stream that wasn't there before,” he said.
He said residents of the campground used sandbags to re-direct the flow so it's only flooding through a narrow portion of the campground.
On the northeast side of town, 49 households were evacuated. Another 35 were evacuated on the southeast side of town as was the entire riverside area including Tall Timber, which includes about 333 households on its own, he said.
“The road to Coyote Creek has been destroyed, there is a permanent overland flow through there now,” he said.
“It will be a while before they are able to shut down that flow coming out of the Red Deer River and fix the road.”
The flow is coming through the south end of 10th Street in town and through the south end of the Riverside campground, he said.
“Right now we're actually assessing the damage, so I really couldn't say what the damage is yet because everything is being assessed this week. There will be inspections and then we will be moving forward from there,” said Sundre mayor Annette Clews, yesterday morning.
She said she is feeling “great” now that the worst is over and that residents are back in their homes.
“The level of flooding that we experienced, thank goodness, is less than what was expected,” she said.
With files from Johnnie Bachusky and Alf Cryderman
