Cypress County only experiencing minor problems with quick melt

By Collin Gallant

Southern Alberta Newspapers

A quick melt that has closed roads and caused a state of emergency to be declared in Taber hasn’t caused the same sort of problems further east in southern Alberta.
On Thursday, the County of Forty Mile stated it had closed Township Road 104 between Range Road 120 and Range Road 115 due to flooding. That county imposed road bans on March 23 for gravel roads in its area.
Public works officials in Cypress County though are describing only a few minor problems and a “pretty typical” spring season of clearing culverts and ditches.
Curtis Richter, the county’s director of public works told the News on Thursday that aside from minor flooding at localized properties, the spring thaw has been manageable.
“We’ve done well this year considering the rapid melt,” he said.
“Our operators know the area and they know how to get on top of it right away.”
“We’re monitoring a couple roads that had water run over them,” he added. “We stay on top of everything. Once the roads dry out, we’ll be able to do a little better job of blading and bring the roads back up to quality.”
Earlier this week the M.D. of Taber and Town of Taber both declared state of emergencies so crews could work around the clock to contain flooding on roads and near the urban area water treatment plant.
In Cypress County, roads crews had been steaming out culverts, and inspecting and clearing ditches for several weeks before warmer temperatures set in about two weeks ago.
Crews spent one day pumping water to keep it from spilling onto a private parcel, but the season this far has been “pretty typical.”
Richter also concluded that after a very dry summer season in 2017, there’s a lot of capacity for water to be absorbed from a larger than usual snow pack.
“It’s good to see dugouts full right up,” he said.