The Athabasca River overflowed its banks in Woodlands County and flooded the surrounding lands near Whitecourt, Alta. on Tuesday, June 20, 2023.
A flood watch was issued for the McLeod and Athabasca rivers in Whitecourt on Monday evening and on Tuesday afternoon, it was upgraded to a flood warning.
Alberta Environment said the warning is in effect for the Athabasca River as it runs through Whitecourt as well as the McLeod River from where it enters the Athabasca, upstream to Groat Creek.
Low-lying areas that could be impacted include the Sagitawah RV Park, Westview Trailer Park, the Whitecourt Golf and Country Club, and extensive farmland downstream of Whitecourt.
The province said a high streamflow advisory has been upgraded to a flood watch for the Athabasca River downstream of the warning area, all the way to the Town of Athabasca.
On Tuesday around 8 a.m., Whitecourt issued a mandatory evacuation order for the Sagitawah RV Park and Campground. Shortly after 11:30 a.m., an evacuation order was also issued for Westview Village Mobile Home Park.
People who have been ordered to leave the RV park were asked to register with the Sagitawah RV Park at 780-778-3734.
People ordered to leave the Westview Village Mobile Home Park were asked to register at an evacuation reception centre set up at the Allan and Jean Millar Centre at 58 Sunset Blvd.
The RV park sits on a delta at the confluence of the McLeod River and the Athabasca River.
Dwayne Gibson, the owner of the Sagitawah RV Park, told Global News he was aware an evacuation order could be coming.
"We knew that it was rising and that it was going to peak sometime last night or today," he said. According to Gibson, town officials ordered the evacuation at about 6:30 p.m. and by 7:30 p.m. everyone in the park was leaving or setting up to leave. By 8:30 a.m., the road leading out of the park was closed.
"Historically, when we've had water in the park, it's never really been a danger to any of the units — the water just doesn't get that high," he said. "The main concern is the evacuation road.
Gibson said the park has faced similar flooding several times before and said the Town of Whitecourt has "always been really good and easy to deal with and have people's safety at the forefront."
"We're in what's called a high summer flood zone... when the mountains are having their main runoff and then we get lots of rain at the same time, it just gets too much for the tributaries to hold."
"People are reminded to exercise extreme caution around the rivers," town officials said. "Riverboat Park remains closed to the public until further notice."
Shortly after 11:30 a.m., the town said it was also closing the following amenities until further notice: Festival Park and the surrounding trail system in and out of the park, Riverside Trail and the Whitecourt Golf and Country Club.
The town said Highway 32 near Township Road 583B had been reduced to a single lane because of flooding.
They said traffic would be slowed as the direction of traffic would alternate and the speed limit would be reduced to 50 km/h. Later Tuesday morning, the town said "flooding has occurred at the north end of 47 Street/Millar Road, and the road is closed temporarily at Flats Road."
"Barricades have been erected, and members of the public are asked to obey all posted signage."
Much of central and northern Alberta has seen significant rainfall over the past few days, prompting the province to issue a number of flood watches and high streamflow advisories.
A rainfall warning for the Whitecourt area on Environment Canada's website Tuesday morning said "a long period of heavy rain continues, with total amounts well over 100 mm for some locations."
"Widespread rain amounts of 50 to 150 mm have already fallen with an additional 10 to 20 mm expected before rain tapers off tonight."
The weather agency warned the rain could trigger flash floods and result in water pooling on roads.
Tom Pickard, the mayor of Whitecourt, said the Athabasca River was expected to peak before the day is over and the McLeod River was expected to peak on Tuesday night.
He said while the municipality is not unfamiliar with flooding, particularly the two mobile home sites that were evacuated, any flooding is always a concern.
He said it is not yet entirely clear how quickly the water would recede.
"The rarity of this situation is that the Athabasca River and McLeod River are high at the same time," Pickard said. "That's what's new about this and that's what's creating extra concern."
The mayor said town officials will continue to work with provincial officials to monitor spring melt and high streamflows that could impact Whitecourt, and noted the two levels of government co-operate each year on flood mitigation efforts "to try to alleviate these kinds of things."
Pickard noted that before the flooding, this spring has seen the town take in wildfire evacuees and just two weeks ago Whitecourt was dealing with wildfire smoke.
"It's been a weird spring for us," he said, adding his community has been fairly lucky compared to other Alberta municipalities that had to be completely evacuated because of fires.
For a complete list of areas in Alberta under a weather alert, click here.
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