Now that many Drumheller residents have had a chance to go home and have a good look at what happened to their homes following the flood, many are pleasantly surprised.
Floodwaters peaked on Sunday afternoon, and they did not reach levels experienced in 2005. While some were able to quickly resume a somewhat normal home life, some had their work cut out for them.
Also unlike 2005, there was more of an air of optimism.
Craig Bitner lives in Lehigh, one of the hardest places hit in the valley. He was living there during the 2005 flood and had since raised up his foundation. Returning after the evacuation, he was anticipating another overland flood. While his basement was full of water, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was clean water.
“It was just seepage,” said Bitner. “It’s all good, just waiting for ATCO to come turn the power on.”
He adds that some neighbours weren’t so lucky and saw overland flooding of their homes.
He said the assistance by the Town of Drumheller may have helped a little to protect some properties. On Saturday night, the town began erecting berms in the community, but eventually had to evacuate. In 2005, no such attempts were made.
Ted and Peggy Ginger moved in to Lehigh in April of 2005. Two month later, they were flooded.
This time they worked hard to prepare. Across Highway 10, residents formed a camp of sort where there were motor homes, cars and trailers packed with household items. The Gingers anticipating the worst remove their furnace and removed valuables from their basement. They too only found seepage when they returned
“I think we are going to be alright,” said Ted.
Linda Digby of East Coulee noticed a visibly different atmosphere.
“It was stressful and many people were anxious, and some people did get some water-filled basements, but the general feeling on the streets was generally very positive,” said Digby. “Neighbours were supporting each other and so many other from outside the valley came with sand bags and muscles helping out neighbours.”
She recalls in one case a neighbour’s property was threatened and everyone pitched in, including a crew of “strapping Mennonite” men who cheerfully just showed up and helped.
Just like in 2005, the Digbys had a wet basement by the time the day was through and it needed to be pumped a few times. She is grateful for the Fire Department for being understanding with the homeowners and allowing them to sign and stay to protect their properties.
“We all felt this shared purpose and it was one of the most social weekends that many of us have had for ages,” she chuckles. “There was great contact with neighbours and the community at large. We felt responsible for looking after each other and that was nice.”
Christine Pinter says it will be a couple more weeks before their Rosedale campground will be able to open. She too hoped for the best, and the lessons of 2005 seemed to help them.
“We were a little smarter than we were in 2005. We took most of our stuff out and tied up all our picnic tables, things that we didn’t think of in 2005,” said Pinter.
She says there are still some low lying areas they will have to pump before the site is usable, and fix some damage to their office and some areas the will have re-graveled.
“Other than that, we did pretty good,” said Christine, “but this is not our home. My heart goes out to all of those that lost their homes.”
