Mother Nature almost ended up interfering with another major event in Olds.
An intense thunderstorm that hit the community on the night of June 29 is being blamed for a flood at the Community Learning Campus' Ralph Klein Centre that damaged a wrestling room and part of the centre's gymnasium.
Organizers of the World Plowing Championship taking place at Olds College on July 19 and 20 are planning to use the centre for a wrap-up dinner and awards ceremony on July 20 with 700 people expected to attend.
Kerry Moynihan, the college's general manager for the championship, said organizers were uncertain in the days following the flood whether the centre would be usable for the event.
He confirmed on July 12, however, the dinner and awards ceremony will take place at the centre.
Moynihan said a cap on a downspout behind a wall near the wrestling room at the north side of the centre came off during the storm allowing a “funnel of water” to pour into the facility for a long period of time.
More than 26 millimetres of rain fell in the Olds area during the storm, according to a college weather station.
The water made its way underneath the wooden floor in the wrestling room and the north part of the gymnasium, causing the floor to “buckle.”
On the evening of July 11, large mounds and bubbles were still visible in the floors and fans and dehumidifiers were in place throughout the north section of the centre to dry the floors out.
The wrestling room was also in a state of disarray and Moynihan said that room is “completely toast.”
A basketball coach first noticed the damage in the centre.
Organizers had developed a contingency plan to move the event to the Olds Sports Complex if the centre had been deemed unsafe, Moynihan said.
“We will move the entire event to either the main or the auxiliary at the Olds arena,” he told the Olds Albertan on July 11. “We are presently meeting with insurance adjustors and risk assessment to see whether it's safe for us to hold this major event next Saturday.”
He added the college was having difficulty bringing adjustors to Olds as many of them are busy working on claims related to the flooding in southern Alberta.
Although he could not put a price tag on the damage, Moynihan said repairing the floor will be costly.
“The ironic thing is, just a couple of weeks ago, we spent $25,000 to refurbish that floor,” he said. “We got a brand new floor and, bingo, flood.”
The damage also affects other activities at the centre planned for July and August such as sport camps, Moynihan added.
“We're scrambling to make alternative arrangements.”
