WESTLOCK – Some area residents have had a tough spring and early summer enduring everything from fires to floods.
Starting June 22, Westlock County began issuing high-flood warnings for the Pembina River, while the province had also been issuing similar warnings for folks living along the Athabasca River.
Alan O’Brien’s Woodlands RV Park and River Marina just downstream from the Hamlet of Fort Assiniboine on the Athabasca River was one of those hardest hit, although the campground on the Freeman River west of Fort Assiniboine also had been flooded. With a warning that waters were on the rise, he and many of the owners of RV units there moved them to higher ground. Water put his whole campground under water, and some decks and such from the RV units simply washed away downstream.
“It was the highest water on record, 4,600 to 4,700 cubic metres per second under the bridge at Fort Assiniboine,” he said.
On top of the losses there was lots of work to clean it up, but many owners and others showed up with equipment to help.
“They all put in a hell of an effort. I am blessed to have these people help out. We live in a great community,” said O’Brien.
By Wednesday morning, June 28, he said that while the water has receded, the river was still flowing at 1,600 to 1,700 metres per second. He had built up his berm last summer higher than the previous high-water levels thinking he was safe, but Mother Nature foiled him again.
Area resident Pam Kawulych, who lives near Highway 18 and just south of Highway 776, says there was “lots of crop damage” as a result of flooding, and that several farmers on both sides of Highways 18 and 776 experienced some and there will be crop losses. She had planted a number of tree seedlings that were also under water, and feel they, like many acres of crop, will also be lost as a result of the flooding.
Thankfully, water levels in the rivers have dropped back to within their banks, but unfortunately, not before the damage has been done.
