Armies of volunteers work all weekend filling sandbags for area residents whose properties were threatened by the flood.
mailphoto by Michael James
On Monday night, June 24, for the first time in two days, many Drumheller residents came home. Pilot lights were lit, power was turned on, basements were surveyed and damage was assessed.
This process didn’t happen right away for some residents, and it will be days, weeks, even months before the full extent of the costs are realized, and maybe longer for all to be fixed.
For the most part however, residents were cautiously optimistic going home, knowing the flow of water was lower than in 2005. In fact, many residents were at home around 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon when flow rates through Drumheller were at their highest level.
“Lehigh is still under water, but there is a lot of successes here, there are a lot of areas that were saved,” said Mayor Yemen, Monday night.
Rewinding three days takes you through a roller coaster of optimism, fear, relief, confusion and ultimately victory.
Eyes turned to the Red Deer River on Thursday afternoon after a high stream flow advisory was issued. By 6 p.m., there was a flood warning. By 9:50 p.m., residents were told to brace for flooding.
“The Town is actively preparing for a potential worst case scenario and we encourage residents to do the same,” was the message residents went to bed with Thursday night.
Projections were tempered Friday morning and throughout the day, with an estimate of 700-1,000 cubic metres per second, far below level experienced in 2005.
On Saturday, the level was ramped up as Mayor Yemen declared a local State of Emergency and projections began to creep higher and timelines shifted.
Yemen was frustrated by the fluctuations on the levels and timelines he was hearing, he was endeared however by the volunteer efforts.
“There were so many positives, the volunteers were incredible, people were showing up even from Calgary to help,” said Yemen.
Deputy Mayor Garbutt was busy all weekend in the Emergency Operations Centre and was astounded by the efforts of residents.
"What we can feel fantastic about is the vast majority of people out there volunteering and giving their time had absolutley nothing to gain from it," said Garbuttt.
"To hear all the stories of individuals, the communities like the Hutterite communities and the business people who went and extended themselves to such an amazing degree, it has to be something that inspires people to focus on the positive elements of our community."
On Saturday afternoon flood abatement was steoped up to prepare for the new projections of about 1,300 cubic metres/ second. About 40 per cent, the town was given evacuation notices.
While water had already spilled the banks in Lehigh, at about 6 p.m. trucks began bringing in material to build berms. This was also the case in other areas including Midland and Newcastle. There was also feverish work in Rosedale.
Sunday morning projections were that high water would hit the valley at midnight. There were some tense moments as water approached peak levels in the afternoon, but as night fell levels stabilized.
Monday morning saw relief.
While there were some breaches including a major break that saw 14 residences in Lehigh evacuated, there was a sense of accomplishment.
• Work by the hundreds of volunteers who helped residents move valuables, relocate and protect houses with thousands of hand–filled sand bags, paid off.
• The work of the Drumheller Fire Department and all of its halls, and dozens from outlying communities, who secured the community manned roadblocks 24 hours, distributing evacuation notices and responded to emergencies to keep residents safe, paid off.
• The planning on behalf of administration, council and staff to fortify and react with changing projections and breaches of mitigation areas, paid off.
• The hundreds of man hours by town employees operating equipment, erecting road blocks keeping the community safe, and staffing emergency centres, paid off.
• The donations of labour, equipment and material from the Drumheller Institution, paid off.
• The work of the dozens of businesses in the valley that did everything from help build dykes and haul material to help feed volunteers and provide services, paid of.
• The work of the Drumheller RCMP detachment and 25 extra officers to keep homes secure and the streets safe, paid off.
“You have to take in to consideration what we did here, this valley is 28 kilometres long and we pretty near saved the whole thing,” said Yemen.
Later on Monday night the valley was toured from the air by the MLA for Vermillion-Lloydminster and Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation Richard Starke. As the Minister surveyed the damages, he exclaimed, “you were lucky.”
“I stopped him and said, ‘this is not a case of luck, this is grit, good planning and good management,’” said Yemen.
