Trans-Canada at Sask.-Alberta border still awash

Residents of flood-soggy southern Alberta and Saskatchewan are forced to heave sodden furniture and scrub slimy floors, while hundreds of othershave been given notice they might be the next victims of roaring rivers and creeks.

More rain is in the forecast.

The Trans-Canada Highway at the Alberta-Saskatchewan border remained closed Sunday morning. About five kilometres are flooded out.

Just west of Maple Creek, a culvert collapsed, causing a giant sinkhole in the westbound lane of the Trans-Canada Highway.

Drivers making their way to Alberta are being redirected towards Highway 7. As well, Highway 271 from Maple Creek, Sask., to Fort Walsh is also closed. Highway 21, which gives access to Cypress Park, is blocked to traffic.

Highway 41 south to the United States border also remains closed because stretches of tarmac are still under water.

Water levels in the South Saskatchewan River and its tributaries are not expected to ease until Monday,and theforecast calls for another 70 millimetres of rain to come pounding down that day.

Up to 150 millimetres of rain has fallen in several regions on the Prairies, turning fields into lakes and ruining houses.

Small hospital, homes, evacuated

Residents in the community of Maple Creek near the Alberta border were assessing the damage from the floods, which caused about 75 people to flee their homes Friday and prompted the evacuation of a 10-bed hospital.

Watersreceded in Maple Creek overnight Friday, and many previously flooded roads were again passable by Saturday. But pieces of siding and even garden sheds were seen floating in the water that remained in some areas of the community.

Residents of the community ofabout 2,600 were taking stock of their flooded and mucky basements and damaged furniture. A mobile home park remains under water.

Town officials canvassed neighbourhoods to check on the welfare of residents trying to cope with the disaster.

"(We're) doing door-to-door checks to make sure everyone is OK, surveying the damage and giving them information on ... a program if they don't have insurance," Mayor Barry Rudd.

Rudd said some of those people had decided to go back home to start the cleanup and patients were being returned to the local hospital after spending the night at another medical facility in nearby Swift Current, Sask.

As water rushed through the streets of his city on Friday, Rudd said the force of it was enough to topple a pile of large, black railway ties at a CP Rail storage yard.

"They were coming down like toothpicks with that water," he said. "They went right from one side of town to the other side of town. There was quite a number of them that turned a corner and even came up Main Street."

Sinkhole on major highway

Doug Wakabayashi, a spokesman with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways, said the sinkhole on the Trans-Canada near the provincial boundary was still being assessed. Hecouldn't say whenthe highway may reopen.

"Our people out there are still of the belief that once the water subsides enough that we can reopen the highway, we can use the eastbound lanes," he said.

Laurier Donais, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, said officials are concerned about the safety of livestock, but they haven't received any reports of stranded farmanimals.

He said the viability of planted crops is questionable. Plants standing in water can take those conditions for up to 48 hours and can withstand up to seven days in wet soil.

Medicine Hat deluged

Gary Pearce watched helplessly as water streamed from a storm drain and moved towards his house in an area of Medicine Hat, Alta., known as the Flats, completely covering the sidewalk.

He'd moved his television upstairs but said that much in his recently renovated basement couldn't be moved.

"We've done so much work, and it's tough to sit and watch," he said.

Creeks overflowed their banks and water also backed up through drains, gushing along major city roadways and creeping close to houses in the southeastern Alberta city, where a local state of emergency was declared Saturday.

Officials went door-to-door in the low-lying Flats area, suggesting to people in about 500 homes that they should consider clearing out. It was a voluntary evacuation and it wasn't clear how many took part.

Deputy Mayor Jamie White said the southern Alberta city is an oasis at the bottom of a valley, a feature that isn't usually a concern in the semi-arid desert area.

"[The rain] is unheard of in southern Alberta. We get nice, sunny weather we're the sunniest city in Canada. But not this year."