By Charles Lefebvre

River Road to be closed Friday for flood protection training

Apr 11, 2019 | 10:39 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — If your commute includes River Road, you will need to find an alternate route on Friday.

The road will be closed to traffic at the City Hall parkade on Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. The closure is to allow city crews to perform a flood protection training session, which will see the installation of a specialized flood protection system at City Hall.

“We’re going to be doing a training session for the installation of demountable barriers,” said Carlie Collier, municipal engineer with the city. “It gives our crews an opportunity to refresh their skills on an annual basis.

The barrier includes steel columns and aluminum panels which, when constructed, will create a watertight barrier that would protect City Hall from flood damage.

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Carlier says it’s important for their staff to know what they need to do if a flood is threatening the city.

“If we get the call that a flood system is coming in, we need to make sure our crews are ready to go,” she said. “We don’t have a significant amount of time to install the system, so as soon as we get that call, our crews need to be ready and familiar with how the system works and is put together. That’s why we continue to do these annual training sessions.”

Carlier says crews will be performing other training sessions for flood mitigation tools throughout the spring, including berm inspections.

Access to the parkade at City Hall will not be available in Friday. Parking will be available on First Street Southeast near City Hall, as well as other streets downtown, the city says.

Those wishing to access the Medicine Hat Public Library, the Provincial Law Courts and the Medicine Hat Court of Queen’s Bench can still do so on the west side of River Road.

The road will re-open when training is finished at 5 p.m., and the City Hall parkade will be open for public use on April 15.