Environment Canada and Climate Change ended its rainfall warning for the Red Deer area by mid-morning Thursday.
The warning was put in place during the recent rainstorms that dumped about 50 to 80 mm of rain since Wednesday. Another five to 10 mm had been expected on Thursday. Friday and Saturday are expected to be mainly sunny with highs of 21 C.
Wednesday evening’s deluge closed down lanes on Highway 2 near Innisfail and threatened to overwhelm the Town of Olds’ sewage system.
Water had pooled in both the left northbound and southbound lanes on Highway 2 about 6 p.m., warned 511Alberta.
In Olds, town staff were watching the regional lift station closely on Wednesday evening because of concern the heavy rainfall might overload the system. By Thursday morning, the lift station was reaching critical capacity and pumping began to diver potential overflow, the town said in a news release on Thursday.
“The situation is stabilizing, but preventative measures are still needed,” says the town. “Town residents are encouraged to conserve water for next 24 hours, as this will ease pressure on our sanitary system.”
The town was regularly updating the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission, which owns and operates the regional lift station, and Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, which is responsible for approving and monitory sanitary releases such as the one Olds had to do.
In Red Deer, there was some localized flooding in a few areas, but nothing beyond the usual following significant rainstorms.
The water and wastewater treatment plants were operating normally. The parks department had no reports of flooding and the river and creeks remained at normal levels.
While strong overnight winds tore some branches off trees, a few landing on city roads, there were no reports of trees coming down.