Anyone visiting the River Valley should still use extreme caution and avoid the river, as the Oldman stream flow remains very high and the riverbank is unstable.
According to the City of Lethbridge, the Oldman River exceeds recommended safe flow rates for boating or swimming.
Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services has also issued a boating advisory.
For the safety of river users and emergency responders, LFES advises everyone to stay off the Oldman River and St. Mary River until conditions return to safer flow rates and the boating advisory is lifted.
Water Rescue Team Lead Charles Schoening said even though water levels are dropping, that can change very quickly depending on the upstream reservoirs releasing more or less water.
“One of the important things to note right now, I’ve received some feedback saying there are a lot of people over on the river edge just wanting to get a look at what things are going on right now,” Schoening added. “With the extremely high flow rates that we’ve had the last few days, along with the recent high rain events, the banks can become very unstable on the river and it’s unsafe to be on those. They can be undercut, as well as the amount of moisture can cause the soil on the edges to be unstable, and they can give way without warning. It’s important to stay well away and keep children and pets away from the river, as well.”
Schoening noted he’s not aware of what the snowpack is right now. “Normally, by this time of the year, it would be pretty well depleted. With the current rain, I would expect it has done that, but I’m not aware of the exact situation.”
It’s imperative to make sure it’s safe before going out near the rivers. “We tend to underestimate our river in Lethbridge because it’s a very benign river normally,” added Schoening.
“But water is extremely powerful. And you can get yourself into trouble in a hurry if you don’t respect it. We’ll come and we will do that rescue. If you get in trouble, please call 9-1-1. Someone will come and help you, but remember that creates an unsafe situation for everybody else when you do that,” Schoening explained. “It’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to these things.”
Some of the hidden dangers, Schoening added, are the logs and debris coming down the rivers. “When we do reopen the river for recreation, there’s going to be a lot more debris in the river than you would normally see because of the upstream heavy water. It will have carried a lot of debris down. If you’re floating the river especially, you’ll need to be aware of sweepers, which are trees that could have gathered onto the river’s edge. They can be a very dangerous situation, so you’re going to want to be a little more aware of those things.”
Schoening said the High-Level Bridge is private property, and it’s never safe to recreate there. “We would never recommend anyone recreating in that area.”
With fishing, the concern right now is more about the stability of the riverbank, Schoening said.
“It’s not going to be the best fishing. Go find a local body of water, a still water or a static body of water to do your fishing in until the river becomes safer to recreate on,” he noted.
