By Dan Singleton
MVP Staff
The massive cleanup efforts launched following flooding of the Red Deer River, the Little Red Deer River and other waterways was continuing in Mountain View County, Red Deer County and the MD of Big Horn at press time Thursday.
Coyote Creek RV and Golf Resort southwest of Sundre was among the areas hardest hit by flooding that started on June 20.
Sam Campkin, one of the owners of Coyote Creek, says the cleanup of the18-hole golf course and RV park will be a very big job.
“River silt is our biggest problem,” said Campkin, a longtime Sundre resident. “We got it off the greens on Monday and we are washing them and keeping them cut or they will die.
“All our grass areas are beautiful but they are full of debris. Our bunkers are full of debris. We have different ways (of cleaning it up), such as sweepers.”
Asked when the course could reopen, he said it depends a great deal on whether things remain dry or more rain falls.
“If we get rain, it is going to slaughter us,” he said. “If it doesn't rain, then there is a possibility within two weeks that we could have our Coyote 9 open. What we call our Deer 9 got it much worse that our Coyote 9.”
The flood of 2013 is worse than the flood of 2005, he said.
“We didn't see any damage to trailers or RVs (in the recent flood), but landscaping and roads and skirting under the trailers, there is a lot of damage,” he said.
Coyote Creek residents were finally able to fully access their trailers and RVs after Rge. Rd. 55 reopened to vehicle traffic June 26.
There was considerable road and other infrastructure damage at the park, with the golf course also heavily flooded.
Coyote Creek summer residents Fred Marfleet and Terri Marfleet called the flooding much worse than in 2005, when the course was also flooded.
“With Mother Nature there isn't much you can do about it,” said Fred. “I've lived here since 1952 and I've seen lots of water. I've seen a lot of water under the bridge, and some over. Everything depends on Mother Nature.”
Doug and Maryanne Leach, also Coyote Creek summer residents, said the community in the park stuck together during the emergency.
“There are 30 of us who live here full time during the summer,” said Doug. “We were moved out on Thursday (June 20) and stayed in Olds. The golf course took quite a beating.”
Maryanne added: “Nothing is old hat; this one is way worse than 2005.”
At the height of the flooding on June 20 and 21, MVC was forced to close portions of eight rural roads. All but one of those roads were reopened by the morning of June 26; only Rge. Rd. 52, which crosses the Little Red Deer River north of Water Valley remained closed at press time.
Numerous roads in MVC have suffered various degrees of damage, which may take some weeks to repair, said MVC director of operations Michael MacLean.
“There would have been 40 people from operations working (during the emergency),” said MacLean. “Most of that was keeping watch on all the flooded areas. The residents really provided us with great insight into what was happening.”
The cost of the emergency response and the cost of repairing the road damage are still being calculated, he said.
“We are putting together all the damage costs right now, but we are also still doing repairs,” he said.
The temporary bridge over the Little Red Deer River was pulled out of the river during the flooding. Unfortunately, the channel formerly spanned by the bridge has now grown too wide for the bridge to cover.
“There are a number of options we will be looking at (for the bridge's future). We have to come back to council with those options,” he said.
The county-owned Westward Ho Campground has reopened. There was flooding at that site, but no significant damage, he said.
The county-owned Sundre Airport, which had some runway flooding, has also reopened.
During the June 26 MVC council meeting Reeve Bruce Beattie commended county staff and others who worked many long hours during the flooding emergency.
“There was a lot of great effort,” said Beattie. “The team deserves a lot of credit. Everyone did a great job. I think things went very well. Our people went above and beyond. Our staff did an extremely good job.”
Members of Sundre Search and Rescue were involved in the emergency response both in Sundre and in the surrounding areas.
On June 24 the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission extended hours at the Sundre transfer station to accommodate flood debris.
Mountain View County has sent heavy equipment to the MD of Big Horn, southwest of MVC, to help with recovery operations there.
Mandie Crawford, spokesperson for the MD of Big Horn, said the cleanup and repair of damaged roads was continuing at press time Thursday.
