Flooding follows fire in central Alberta as wildfire evacuees prepare to return home to the north

Heavy rainfall in central and western Alberta has been a mixed blessing as more wildfire evacuees prepare to return home.

The downpour follows one of the hottest Mays on record for Canada, as wildfires spread across a dry Alberta. After a brief respite, early June again saw wildfires rip through forest areas.

Communities evacuated included Edson and Yellowhead County in central Alberta — for the second time this season — and Fort Chipewyan, about 450 miles northeast of Edmonton.

The evacuation order for Fort Chipewyan will soon be lifted. Evacuation orders for Edson and Yellowhead County were lifted late last week.

But Edson, 125 miles west of Edmonton, is now experiencing flooding. It declared a local state of emergency on Monday.

Mayor Kevin Zahara said in an online video update around noon that Edson will contact the Alberta Emergency Management Agency and request assistance from neighboring municipalities.

Pumps are being set up in at least one overcrowded street, and there is localized flooding in several neighborhoods, Zahara said.

Thirteen properties have reported flooding so far and internet and telephone lines have been down. The fire south of Edson remains uncontrollable but has received about 84 millimeters of rain in a span of hours — an amount more commonly seen in a month-long period, he said.

“No city infrastructure, city infrastructure can handle so much water in that time,” he said.

A visibly emotional Zahara ended the update by reiterating how difficult the past few weeks have been.

“Today it’s hard to watch. To see people struggling with their homes. But I’m incredibly proud of our staff here in the city of Edson and all of our emergency responders.”

Environment Canada has issued a rain warning for western and central Alberta, warning of possible flash floods and puddles.

A snowfall warning is in effect for Highway 93 in Alberta’s mountain parks.

Evacuation orders for Fort Chip are lifted

At Fort Chipewyan, home to members of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, a nearly three-week evacuation order is about to be lifted.

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo said the southern perimeter of the blaze is now under control and the evacuation order could be lifted once all essential services in the community are ready.

A timeline of return is detailed in three phases, starting with essential workers on Monday, followed by the general public and land users on Thursday. In the third phase, vulnerable persons and people with mobility needs are welcomed back.

The regional municipality says that it is working on the return plan together with the three countries and other authorities.

Precipitation follows dry summer start

Sara Hoffman, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said this weekend’s heavy rainfall in central and western Alberta follows above-normal temperatures and below-average precipitation in early June.

“We are definitely seeing an improvement in conditions,” she said in an interview Monday.

“The bushfire group will certainly be happy with any amount of rain in the forecast.”

Hoffman said areas affected by the heavy rainfall are catching up to normal precipitation levels for this time of year. But other regions continue to face a shortage. The northwest of the province is still dry, she said.

Hoffman said rainfall is expected to continue for another day and move to the northeastern and eastern parts of the province.

Then the weather is predicted to shift to more typical temperatures for this time of year – daytime highs in the low 20s – with spotty showers and thunderstorms.

“Hopefully that will give us a little peace of mind from all the extremes,” she said.

Alberta Wildfire spokesperson Josee St-Onge said Monday that when a lot of rain falls in a short period of time, it sometimes runs off instead of being absorbed.

“We’ll have to see and do some measurements over the next few weeks to see how everything bounces back, but it certainly puts us in a much better situation than we were a few weeks ago,” St-Onge said.

Severe downpours can keep firefighters inside, she said. But otherwise, rainfall will reduce wildfire activity, giving Alberta Wildfire time to progress and reassess for long-term planning rather than responding to an emerging crisis.

St-Onge said huge wildfires will continue to burn underground even if they get a lot of rain.

“While the rains bring some relief and temporary relief, these are very large wildfires that will take weeks if not months to fully extinguish,” she said.

“While this is great for now, it doesn’t mean we can let go of the accelerator. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Monday afternoon there were 74 forest fires in the forest protection areas of the province. Of these, 17 are considered out of control.

More than 1.4 million acres have burned this year, according to the Alberta Wildfire Dashboard, surpassing the previous record of 1.3 million set in 1981.