By paNOW Staff

UPDATE: Arborfield evacuation lifted

Jul 12, 2016 | 8:37 AM

UPDATE: According to the province, the town of Arborfield has fully lifted its mandatory evacuation. All residents of the town are now allowed to return to their homes. Town admin has added water levels have receded and Arborfield’s sanitary sewer system is regaining capacity.

Arborfield’s evacuation was issued Tuesday, July 12 shortly after 4 p.m. Intense rains caused severe flooding in the region.

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The towns of Carrot River and Arborfield declared a state of emergency Tuesday morning.

Carrot River administrator Kevin Trew confirmed the declaration came at 6:15 p.m. yesterday, July 12, after they received more than three inches of rain in a few hours. 

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Emergency pumps are keeping up with the rain but according to Trew, storm sewers in spots around the town are at or near capacity.

“As long as it’s slow we’ll be okay,” he said. 

The latest issue in Carrot River is sinkholes. Trew said several have appeared due to the rain. He encouraged anyone on the streets to avoid driving through even shallow pools of water in case a sinkhole is underneath.

Carrot River residents are asked to limit their water use as much as possible, even asked not to use their dishwashers or laundry machines at this time.

“With the germs out there we know people are going to shower and wash, they can do that at this time, but please don’t use a lot of sewer system until notified,” Trew said.

In Arborfield, the Special Care Lodge has been evacuated as a precautionary measure. According to a release from the town, residents were moved to their families’ or other facilities within the Kelsey Trail Health Region.

Allan Grey, a lifetime resident of Arborfield, has been sandbagging and combatting the rising waters since last night.

“On my side here it’s running out on the road…until it subsides a little bit there’s not much a person can do,” he said.

Volunteers and town employees are actively pumping water into the storm ditch. Residents with access to a sump pump are required to pump sewage onto the streets so it becomes a part of the town’s storm system. Special permission was given by the ministry of the environment.

@PQuinlanGlobal Flooding at Carrot River (pictures courtesy of @AlvinSlusar) #skstorm pic.twitter.com/Y74W7yzdrh

— Lacy Sletten (@LacySletten) July 11, 2016

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