flooded hwy

A lot of southern Alberta is playing the worst waiting game of their lives as they feel the aftermath of the floods that destroyed homes, cars and in some cases lives.

Cities like Calgary, Canmore, Medicine Hat and High River have felt the worst of it since late last week as it feels like their lives are under water.

Former Swift Current resident and Medicine Hat morning host, Kim Johnston said it's a tragedy for everyone affected, but it really shows how a community can come together in a situation like this.

"We're just doing whatever we can to help," Johnston said, "it seems like everybody's pitching in, sandbagging, or looking after pets, or just doing whatever we can to help out others in the community that are genuinely affected in a first hand way, this affects all of us, some more than others, it's not easy, but we're getting through it."

Johnston added the Medicine Hat Ballpark where the Swift Current Indians were set to play on Saturday night, but had to be cancelled of course due to the flooding, has water up to the top of the outfield fence, and he doubts the Medicine Hat Mavericks will be able to play there again this season, just to give you an idea of how serious it is there.

Meanwhile, one of our partnering radio station's program directors in High River, Jody Seeley said most of the experience for her and her family has been surreal and somewhat of a blur.

"All of the sudden you're knee-deep in water, and you're evacuating your town and you're leaving home and grabbing your family, and waking up in a friend or family's spare bedroom and you're going from there." Seeley recapped, "To be honest, it's kind of a hurry up and wait kind of game because we're still evacuated from the town, we're not allowed back in to see our homes."

High River is just south of the city of Calgary, and is a community slightly smaller than Swift Current.

The flood continues to move east on the South Saskatchewan River, affecting our own Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park with some campsites being closed this past weekend due to floods, and moving towards Saskatoon.

There are limited things we can do here in Swift Current to help our neighbours to the west as the extent of the damage is still slowly being revealed and the recovery process hasn't 100% began yet, however you can make a donation to the Alberta relief fund by going to www.redcross.ca.

We'll keep you updated on the situation in our region as more information becomes available.