Elsewhere in the province, a state of emergency remains in place in the town of High River, while municipal officials in the city of Medicine Hat continue examining area infrastructure. Crews have paid particular attention to removing berms inundated during the flooding, said Medicine Hat's general manager of municipal works, Dwight Brown. "We're also opening up roads, removing debris, and inspecting bridges and giving clearance where they're good to go."
Brown is unsure how much long-term remediation will be required. "We don't know the impact on our storm infrastructure, and we haven't completed all our bridge inspections," he says.
In Calgary, MacFarlane says much remains to be done before the city's infrastructure is whole again and that much of this work will require outside assistance.
"We have bridge crews, but they're intended to do very minor bridges. So, we rely almost exclusively on major bridge contractors and consultants for the majority of our work," notes MacFarlane.
The government of Alberta has pledged $1 billion to help communities initiate recovery efforts.