Emergency officials in Medicine Hat, Alta., have started evacuating vulnerable buildings as rising water levels — that have devastated several southern Alberta communities, including large parts of downtown Calgary — reach the South Saskatchewan River.
Although the river is not expected to peak until Monday morning, already 10,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes along its banks.
Officials have turned off gas in the homes in the evacuation area, but water and power remain on throughout the community.
Some floodwaters are seeping into Lions Park, said Medicine Hat Mayor Norm Boucher.
The city opened two emergency care shelters to house people displaced by the floods.
"This is going to be a very challenging time for Medicine Hat," Alberta Premier Alison Redford said on a visit to the city on Saturday evening. "There's going to be a lot of uncertainty and people are going to be afraid. I want people to know we have the opportunity to get through this."
After watching the news coverage of flooding in Calgary over the past several days, many people are co-operating with evacuation orders.
"My whole house, absolutely everything is going," one Medicine Hat resident told CBC News. "Don't fool around with Mother Nature."
"I'm banking on a lot worse than what people are expecting," another of the city's residents told CBC News, adding that some people have been reluctant to leave because they did not face danger in the city's last round of flooding.
CBC's Briar Stewart said residents are generally complying with the orders, but some needed a bit of extra reassurance from emergency officials. About 20 homeowners refused to leave the evacuation zone until they were reassured by police that their homes would be protected, he said.
Redford warned Medicine Hat residents that evacuation orders must be obeyed and ignoring them could put others, including first responders, in danger.
"They're not asking for no reason," the premier said.
The river is expected to peak on Monday morning, reaching water flows between 5,100 to 6,000 cubic metres per second, according to the city's Facebook page.
Across Alberta, some 175,000 people were ordered to leave their homes as the floods ravaged the province's southern communities. At least three people died in High River, which is about 60 kilometres south of Calgary and is believed to be one of the hardest hit communities in the province.
In Calgary, the floodwaters filled the city's iconic Saddledome stadium up to the 10th row of seats and washed out the Calgary stampede grounds. The city's annual stampede is scheduled to run July 5-14.
About 60,000 people live in Medicine Hat, according to Statistics Canada.
South of Calgary and west of Medincine Hat, the city of Lethbridge and Lethbridge county also feared the floodwaters would pass through. However, both areas ended their states of local emergency on Saturday.
Lethbridge has about 84,000 residents, while the county has slightly more than 10,000.
View a map of the evacuated areas With files from the Canadian Press
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