UPDATE #2: We have received a message from Mayor Heather Colberg in regards to the comments she shared with the Robinson family on the evening of the flooding of their yard. In a statement, Mayor Colberg shares that she advised Mrs. Robinson “they needed to deploy pumps, etc. as they were having difficulty getting the culvert to clear and allow the water to free flow”.
UPDATE: The Town of Drumheller has shared what had happened in East Coulee on Wednesday / Thursday below:
The Town deployed crews early Wednesday morning to address the issue in East Coulee. The culvert was jammed with ice, resulting in poor drainage of the melt from the chinook. Temperatures over Wednesday night increased, resulting in additional runoff from melted snow. Freeze/thaw cycles cause challenges with drainage throughout the Valley, and crews were on at the scene for 15 consecutive hours working on the issue.
Crews ran a 4″ pump throughout the night to mitigate the water, following with a flush truck to open the culvert and remove the ice build-up.
Inland flooding is a common occurrence during fluctuate weather events. Please contact the Town of Drumheller’s Infrastructure Services Department at 403-823-1330 when early signs are visible. Alternatively, residents can use SeeClickFix. In the event of an afterhours emergency, call 403-823-2512 or 911.
———————————————————————–
As we all know, Mother Nature has brought us some warmer temperatures and with that, melting of the snow and ice.
Last Wednesday, Chris Robinson of East Coulee was dealing with a possible problem when the ditch across from his home in East Coulee was filling with runoff. Unfortunately, the culvert that would help to alleviate the water was frozen. According to Robinson, when he arrived home from work at 6 PM that night, the water level was breaching the road. Here is the audio from our conversation:
Robinson attempted to reach out to the emergency line of the Town of Drumheller but struggled to get a response. “I’d made six calls to the Town Infrastructure (Emergency) Line to get them to come out. I waited, and waited, and waited, and the water was getting deeper. I called 911 to get them to send the fire department out for reassurance and back up. It ended up that there was 14 inches of water in my yard. It was up to the first stair (on my deck). It went on until about 2:20 AM.” At about that time, crews from the Town of Drumheller attended the area and got the water moving away from Robinson’s yard. As for damages to his home, Robinson has not had time to thoroughly investigate. He did have concerns about his water well as his home is on well water in East Coulee.
As for an answer from the Town of Drumheller, Robinson’s wife has spoken to town officials. “Apparently, the Mayor said to the wife that they didn’t bring the right tool for the job. The wife asked why didn’t they come back and we are still waiting on a call on that.”
Drumheller Online has reached out to the Town of Drumheller for a statement about the events. They shared that they will respond to the situation and when we receive it, we will update the story.
Comments