Prairie floods shut down Trans-Canada Highway

MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — This spring, certain parts of Manitoba braced for their annual floods, but were spared by Mother Nature. The rest of western Canada wasn’t so lucky come summertime.

Heavy rainfall during the past week has washed out stretches of the Trans-Canada Highway along the prairies, adding extra hours to trucker’s routes as they look for detours.

The region surrounding Medicine Hat in southeastern Alberta was hit with an unprecedented amount of rain, which flooded rivers and tributaries in the area. The flooding damaged a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, causing it to be closed and it’s not expected to open until late this week.

With more rain expected this week, according to local news reports, a state of emergency remains in place in the area.

As long as the Trans-Canada remains closed, truckers routed through the region will have to add more hours and fuel to their trip. One trucker told local media that the secondary highways in the region aren’t as flat as Highway 1, so in addition to adding more miles to the route, climbing up and down hills will cost more in fuel too.

A good detour point, according to the Manitoba Trucking Association, is in Swift Current, Sask. where you can head north around the flooded region if you’re traveling into Alberta.

Of course, Manitoba couldn’t escape their annual flooding all together. Heavy rains in the western part of the province last week caused a flood warning from Manitoba Water Stewardship for areas of the Assiniboine River watershed from Shellmouth to Brandon, the area from Dauphin to Swan River and portions of the Souris and Pembina river watersheds.