Water levels and flow rate on the South Saskatchewan River increase sharply

Medicine Hat Fire and Emergency Services is reminding the public to stay away from the river and riverbanks until conditions improve.

The Alberta Rivers monitoring website anticipates water levels to peak on Thursday.

Just after 8 a.m. on Thursday, water levels had reached 5.88 metres, up from 3.15 metres, 24 hours earlier.

The flow rate has also jumped significantly from about 340 cubic metres per second on Wednesday morning to over 1,700 cubic metres per second on Thursday morning.