Some Eden Valley residents have been forced from their homes and some are wondering where their water will be coming from, with the reserve’s treatment plant knocked out by the powerful floodwaters from the Highwood River Thursday.
The water came rushing down the Highwood Thursday, grazing the bottom of a bridge that provides the only access in and out of the community.
Eden Valley’s emergency management director Claude Lefthand said himself and Turner Valley RCMP officer Donald Vanderrick manned the bridge for almost 24 hours. Thursday morning they allowed people with medical problems to leave the reserve, but in the afternoon they had to completely close off the bridge, trapping residents.
“Any ambulance or people with medical needs, like dialysis, we let them go through in the morning,” Lefthand said.
There are people on the reserve who need dialysis two to three times per week, he said, and they wanted to make sure they didn’t become stranded on the reserve.
Lefthand said it is very concerning when the only exit out of the remote reserve is cut off.
“I was worried about my people,” Lefthand said. “Those with health problems. I was worried because the bridge is the only way in and out and there are dialysis patients and people with breathing problems.”
Lefthand said the water is the highest he has ever seen it.
“The ’95 floods were nothing compared to what we had,” he said. “I’ve lived there my whole life. This is the worst I’ve seen in 60 years.”
One lane of the bridge re-opened on Friday. Lefthand said there is damage one side of the bridge deck and they will be getting an engineer to make sure the bridge is structurally sound.
However, the reserve is facing other serious problems on the other side of the river, where the 800 residents live.
Around 20 homes on the reserve have flooded basements. People with inhabitable homes have been evacuated to reserve’s school.
“We had a few floods in the basements,” Lefthand said. “People may need to replace furnaces and have their basements cleaned and disinfected.”
Displaced people are staying in the school’s gym. Lefthand said the Red Cross brought in cots and blankets for people and staff from the Wellness Centre and school prepared sandwiches and made hot lunches for evacuees.
He said they have also received help from the Tsuu T’ina nation, Hobbema reserve and other places.
The reserve’s water treatment plant is also not operational, Lefthand said.
“There is a lot of damage,” he said.
They have not run out of clean water because there is water stored in cisterns he said, but they are looking at getting water trucked in until they can get the water treatment plant operational again.
About 70 per cent of the reserve’s residents are hooked up to the reserve’s water system, while the rest have wells, Lefthand.
Bearspaw band chief Darcy Dixon came from Morley to tour the reserve Friday. Lefthand said their main priority is ensuring residents have clean water and heat in their homes.
