The risk of the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre needing to be evacuated is being considered low at this time.
That’s according to Scott Davis, Director of Emergency Management, who along with Mayor Don Scott gave a flood update on Tuesday.
The hospital is the only building that hasn’t been evacuated from the downtown core as water levels continue to rise.
Davis says the water, currently, isn’t near the building.
“I’ve had both our engineering department as well as [Fire Chief Jody Butz] put eyes on the ground, they assure me that the water is well away from the low point.”
Efforts are continuing to be made to protect the hospital.
Suncor and Syncrude have loaned pumps which are able to remove between 40,000 and 50,000 litres of water per minute.
A number of people have also stepped up to provide other mitigation efforts.
“We’ve had contractors, a number of volunteers that came in,” added Davis. “The sandbagging and mitigation efforts to protect the hospital… I’m struggling to find a word to commend all the work that’s been done.”
The risk level is continuing to be monitored.
Water continues to rise on the Clearwater River, however, levels have slightly decreased on the Athabasca River.
The ice jam, which at one point was 25 km long, is now 23.5 km in length.