Alberta Government Press Release – June 16th:
While water levels in most rivers flowing out of the foothills in central and southern Alberta have continued to fall, a new flood warning has been issued for the Clearwater River near Rocky Mountain House.
Current situation
The low pressure system that brought rain to much of Alberta this week moved into Saskatchewan June 15. This system brought 30-50 millimetres of widespread precipitation to central and southern Alberta June 12-16.
In the foothills from west of Calgary to Pincher Creek, 80-100 millimetres of rain was observed, with locally higher amounts up to 160 millimetres west of Okotoks. Up to 65 centimetres of snow fell at higher elevations.
Ten to 30 millimetres of rainfall are expected in central portions of the province through June 17. The largest amounts of rain will be due to convective activity June 16 and 17.
Flood peaks in the major rivers are expected to move across the province over the remainder of the week. Flood mitigation infrastructure continues to hold and there has been no major flooding. Albertans can monitor the flood peaks using near real-time water levels and river flows on rivers.alberta.ca and the Alberta Rivers app.
The Government of Alberta continues to work directly with affected municipalities through the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
States of local emergency are still active in Calgary and the Municipal District of Bighorn.
River conditions
Environment and Parks’ River Forecast Centre continues to monitor river levels and update advisories, watches and warnings through rivers.alberta.ca and the Alberta Rivers app.
Bow River Basin
Advisories:
- Flood watch – Pipestone River
Red Deer River Basin
Advisories:
- Flood warning – Little Red Deer River
North Saskatchewan River Basin
Advisories:
- Flood warning – Clearwater River
- Flood watch – Brazeau River, Ram River, Prairie Creek, Baptiste River, Nordegg River
For information on high streamflow warnings, please visit rivers.alberta.ca or download the Alberta Rivers app.
Road closures
Highway 734 is closed south of North Ram Bridge.
Highway 40 between Kananaskis Lake Trail and Highwood House is now open.
Parks closures
Visitors in affected campgrounds are being notified of severe weather and high water levels and should be prepared to evacuate on short notice. All campgrounds are now open.
Current park closures include:
- Crescent Falls provincial recreation area
- Seven Mile provincial recreation area
- Prairie Creek provincial recreation area
- Tay River provincial recreation area
- Medicine Lake provincial recreation area
- Red Lodge Provincial Park
- Strachan provincial recreation area
- McKinnon Flats day-use area
- access roads to Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park
More information is available at albertaparks.ca.
How Albertans can help
Albertans who live in affected areas should look for updates from their local government regarding evacuations and closures and download the Alberta Emergency Alert app. For the latest information on river conditions, visit rivers.alberta.ca or download the Alberta Rivers app.
Additional information
The River Forecast Centre started 24-hour flood event operations at 6 a.m. on June 13 to monitor conditions, run flood forecasting models and update flood advisories.
Related information
- River flooding in Calgary
- MD of Bighorn flood updates
- Emergency preparedness
- Active Emergency Updates
- Alberta Emergency Alert App
- Alberta Rivers website
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