Evacuated Mountain View County residents are free to return to their homes after water levels on the Red Deer River dropped.
“The evacuation alert is off for residents,” said county spokesman Andrew Wild, who said the alert ended about 2:30 p.m. “The water has subsided a fair amount.”
An alert was issued on Wednesday afternoon after the river began overflowing its banks and threatened several low-lying county roads that served as access routes to acreages and the Coyoto Creek resort and golf course.
“We ended up with some washing out on shoulders of the roads,” said Wild. “But as best as we can tell at this point is everything held up and there doesn’t seem to have been any extensive damage to anything.”
Water did creep across the runway at the county-managed Sundre Airport, located several km southwest of the town. That was being cleared up Thursday afternoon.
Range Road 55, which runs along the west side of the airport, had water running over it at three places at one point, but is now clear.
The only road still closed in the county is in the Water Valley area where a temporary bridge had to be removed.
The county is urging residents to consider conditions and be aware of the weather.
“We’re still watching the forecast and I guess we’ll see.”
Alberta Environment’s high stream advisory is still in effect for the Red Deer River and a flood watch remains in place for the Little Red Deer River. The Little Red Deer was expected to peak late Thursday or early Friday.