Gladstone hospital evacuated due to flooding

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This article was published 13/04/2011 (5613 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Seven Regions Health Care Centre in Gladstone was forced to close today and relocate eight patients after a breach in a super sandbag dike

The patients, none of whom was in critical care, were transferred to the Third Crossing Manor, a seniors centre in Gladstone. The evacuation started about 7 a.m. and was finished an hour later, says Larry Skoglund, a disaster manager with the rural health authority

It was triggered after an ice jam on the engorged Whitemud River caused it to rise rapidly overnight. Water began leaking through the protective dike and into the parking lot about 5 a.m., threatening an access road, Skoglund said.

The river has since dropped slightly, but not the concern.

“The concern is in Neepawa, the river rose about two feet overnight” Skoglund said, “so we don’t know what that will do for us.”

Skoglund doesn’t expect the hospital to reopen until next week.