While Drumheller scrambled to get ready for the impending waters last week, Kneehill County too was on alert, and managed to keep its residents safe.
On Friday June 21, the County was put on High Water Level alert. By Saturday evening the county issued an evacuation order for designated low lying areas. T
his included a number of residences along the Red Deer River including homes in the Kirkpatrick area, the Bleriot Ferry campground, the Lions Campground and the Tolmen Bridge area.
“We started off Saturday afternoon with a voluntary evacuation, just to let people know the waters were coming up,” said Kneehill Reeve Bob Long.
“We had no one who actually evacuated, but we were down there with our staff, and residents signed releases. We just wanted them to know the information we were given and when the peak should be.”
Residents chose to stay put and protect their homes, and Kneehill staff monitored the campgrounds to make sure there was no one in those areas. He said the ranch near Tolman Bridge began its own evacuation of people and animals in preparation of the potentially damaging water.
“It got fairly close to their residences in 2005,” said Long.
He says he whole operation was smooth.
“We were fortunate going through this a few years ago, people were ready for it,” said Long.
“If nothing else, it was a great practice run of our Emergency plan. We set up our Emergency Operations Centre and evacuation centre at Prairie Bible Institute.”
