A state of emergency in the town of Beaverlodge is expected to be lifted Thursday morning after crews spent almost 10 hours pumping water from roads that flooded from heavy rainfall.
Town officials said the rain began at around 1 p.m. Wednesday and, by that evening, about 50 mm of rain had fallen.
“We’re in good shape now,” said mayor Gary Rycroft on Thursday morning. “We’re really not in that bad of shape.”
Highway 43, the main corridor through Beaverlodge, was flooded, along with roads that access the highway and the town’s industrial area. All roads were open by Thursday.
Rycroft said damage occurred mainly in ground-floor office buildings in the industrial area and in some residential basements.
“We have a lot of clean up,” he said.
At around 2 p.m., quarter-sized hail was reported in Beaverlodge, according to Environment Canada’s website.
By 4 p.m., 50.5 mm of rain had fallen and local flooding was reported in the area.
Several residents said the extreme rains and flash floods were rare for the area.
“It was just buckets, like someone opened the taps upstairs,” Natalie Kenney, manager of the Sidetrax Inn. She said she hadn’t seen anything like it in her 20 years in town.
Beaverlodge is approximately 500 km northwest of Edmonton.