By Canadian Press

Final evacuation order lifted in Fort McMurray as flooding cleanup continues

May 4, 2020 | 9:07 AM

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — All mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo after a massive ice jam caused flooding and forced about 13,000 people out of their homes.

Residents from Draper, a community just south of Fort McMurray, were allowed to return home at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The final order was lifted as Fort McMurray marked the four-year anniversary of a raging fire that emptied the northern Alberta city four years ago.

Many of the evacuation orders that had begun the last weekend of April due to the spring ice breakup on nearby rivers were lifted on Friday.

The flooding affected several low-lying areas along the Athabasca and Clearwater rivers, including downtown Fort McMurray.

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Officials with the regional municipality, which includes Fort McMurray, are to give an update on the flooding this afternoon.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2020

The Canadian Press