Medicine Hat braces for disaster after Calgary floods

Emergency officials in Medicine Hat, Alta., are reinforcing city infrastructure and forcing a handful of resistant residents out of the mandatory evacuation zone as rising water levels — that have devastated several southern Alberta communities, including large parts of Calgary — reach the South Saskatchewan River. Rising waters have forced the closure of most of the city’s key transit arteries. Medicine Hat officials closed access to two of the three city’s bridges at 10 a.m. MT — Maple Avenue Bridge and Findlay Bridge. The last, the Trans-Canada Highway bridge, was slated to be closed at 7 p.m. MT but Alberta Transportation announced that the bridge will remain open. However, officials stress that floating debris in the river water is still a concern.