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RMWB bracing for more rainfall

PHOTO: Flooding in Waterways during the 2013 flood.

The high water in the area has stabilized, but more rain could turn that around in a hurry.

Mayor Melissa Blake, Fire Chief Darby Allen, and RCMP Superintendent Bob Couture gave an update this afternoon on the details of the last 24 hours.

The main concern is that if the rain that’s in the forecast from now until Saturday comes through, flooding could become much more serious.

Blake says with the future so hard to predict, keeping up with the most current conditions is still the biggest priority.

“We’re keeping the water levels under strict observation to find out what risk or peril may pervade, but we watch the weather forecast just as diligently as a regular citizen would, perhaps more so because we’re very concerned about future potential impacts,” she said.

Residents of the Ptarmigan Trailer Park are still being forced to evacuate.

Earlier this afternoon, a 50 foot piece of the river bank beside the trailer park eroded into the river.

Allen says if the rain can hold off, the situation won’t get drastically worse.

“We cannot predict whether we’ll evacuate more people, we cannot predict what will happen. In my own mind, if we can keep the water as stable as possible right now, I don’t envisage any more evacuations,” he said.

Couture says he’s happy with the cooperation they’ve gotten from the evacuees, and needs that to continue.

“That area there is cut off, there’s no services in there. There’s no gas, there’s no lighting, there’s no water, per se. And for our emergency people to constantly go in there and go back and check and see if there’s people there, it takes away from the duties of what they should be doing,” he said.