Olds College received 55 residents from the Sundre area when parts of the town were put on evacuation order due to the Red Deer River spilling over its banks on June 20.
Chantale Navrot, one of the people who came to the school's Frank Grisdale Hall residence, said she had been watching the situation unfold since about 10 a.m. on June 20, following developments online through Facebook postings and other websites.
“There really wasn't any concern (at 10 a.m.), and then I got an electronic notice on my cellphone to pick up my kid from school and that was shortly after 2 (p.m.),” she said.
Earlier, at about 1:30 p.m., she phoned the Town of Sundre and staff there told her that the southwest side of town where she lives was under a voluntary evacuation notice.
Navrot said after she received word from River Valley School that she should pick up her daughter, she made the decision to leave town. At that point, Navrot packed a bag and got her seven-year-old daughter. From her vantage point outside her home, Navrot could see the river rising.
“Normally when you're at the end of my street, you can't see the river. I went to the end of my street and I could see the river from the road and it was high and flowing (fast),” she said. “She (my daughter) was my first concern.
“Seeing that river, I wasn't comfortable. (Potentially) seeing that river on the road, I wasn't going to wait that long.”
Navrot moved to Sundre in August 2006. She was told when she moved into her home that the basement was damaged from the last big flood in 2005 and she was concerned, but neighbours told her the house should be OK.
She added she was eager to get back home, but was impressed with what Olds College was providing.
“It would be nice (to go home). I'm hoping that it slows down enough that it will be receding,” she said, adding that she didn't expect there to be a room and food waiting for her and her daughter at the college.
“It's impressive. It makes it less stressful coming to something like this,” she said.
Freda Vavra, a senior who departed Sundre with neighbours, said she was surprised by the flooding. She heard a knock on her door at about 3 p.m. on June 20.
“It was pretty quick. I didn't know it was going to happen. I didn't know where I was going to go,” said the 82-year-old, who has lived in Sundre for seven years.
A total of 12 Olds Search and Rescue volunteers helped about 30 college housing and caretaking staff with the receiving effort. OSR volunteers also provided traffic flow assistance at the college.
A bus took a dozen residents of Mountain View Seniors' Housing facilities in Sundre to the college, along with three staff members, according to Sam Smaldon, chief administrative officer of MVSH. Family members took another 36 seniors of the lodge facilities to Olds.
As a precautionary measure, 12 long-term care residents of the Sundre hospital were also temporarily moved to the Olds Hospital and Care Centre. After being moved on June 20, they were returned to Sundre hospital on June 22, following the lifting of the evacuation order. Several staff from Sundre were also moved to Olds to help with the patients, said Heather Kipling, spokesperson for Alberta Health Services.
A Chinook's Edge School Division bus took 16 students from River Valley School and Sundre High School to Olds High School after the evacuation order in Sundre was received. Family members picked up other students from Sundre schools. Another 50 students from Sundre who were on field trips at the time of the evacuation order were also received at OHS, said Tom Christensen, principal of OHS.
Doug Wagstaff, manager of campus life at the college, said staff and members of the community performed well in helping the residents of Sundre.
“In times like this, it really is good to see how people come forward and come together,” he said.
Flooding of the Red Deer River also closed the Garrington Bridge on Highway 587 west of Bowden on June 22 and will likely be closed for one to two months, said Lynden Fischer, operations manager with Alberta Transportation.
“(The pavement) washed away underneath the bridge deck where the pavement and the bridge deck meet,” he said.
Detours are set up around the area.
