Flooded Alberta reserve still soggy

People living on the Blood Tribe reserve 180 kilometres south of Calgary are cleaning up after several days of heavy rain and snow led to the evacuation of 47 homes over the weekend.

But high water is continuing to force some people to stay at the community hospital or at a shelter set up by the Red Cross on the reserve near Cardston, said Dennis Chief Calf, the band's assistant disaster manager.

"They are siphoning the water out and it's coming back in as fast as they siphon it out. So they'll have to wait until the water recedes a little and dries up a little before they can go back to some of those houses. But those are the older houses," he said.

At least half of the remaining evacuees were expected to be able to move back home Tuesday, Calf added.

A storm also flooded about 200 homes on the reserve at the end of April, forcing more than 100 people into Red Cross shelters.

Farmers happy

The recent precipitation has been a welcome sight among farmers in the area after an unusually dry April, according to Ralph Wright, a soil moisture specialist with Alberta Agriculture.

"We were down about eight inches of precipitation. Since that time we've had quite a bit of precipitation that's brought us to about 75 per cent of normal. So we're still relatively dry."

For farmers who have already seeded, the timing was perfect for germination, he added.