The excessive rainfall we have seen in June is causing a couple landslides in the Red Deer area. Three landslides have been reported in Red Deer earlier this week and the City is asking residents to keep and eye out for more.  

So far, the landslides have all been happening on private properties around the city.  

“We’re not giving out specific addresses but they basically are on escarpments. One of them is on the Red Deer escarpment in the Cronquist area and the other two were along Waskasoo escarpment,” said Engineering Manager, Konrad Dunbar.  

The landslides were adjacent to the Waskasoo Creek area. There have been no evacuation notices so far.  

While the issue is of concern to the City of Red Deer, the City will not be responsible for taking on the cost of repair on private property. 

“Repairs on private property are not the city's responsibility. It is the land owners because it is private property. Repairs of soil movement could take a multitude of the different approaches, sometimes it's just soil stabilization, sometimes there's retaining walls, it all depends on the slide, the movement of soil and soil science is a very complicated engineering field,” added Dunbar.  

Residents who experience landslides are encouraged to contact their insurance company once it is determined that they and their neighbours are safe.  

At this time, Dunbar says landslides are not threatening any City infrastructure. The City is still asking residents to keep an eye out for any large cracks they might see in the ground. A consultant has been enlisted to provide additional expertise and assess the problem areas in the meantime.  

“We brought in a geotechnical expert that specializes in slope stability and we are currently assessing the ones we already know of, but we're going to assess anything that we feel may pose a risk as as the weather stays warm like this the risk goes down substantially, but we are still going to do our due diligence and look at any areas we feel might be impacted and that is why we've brought in a specialist for this,” explained Dunbar.  

In June the City of Red Deer reported between 167 and 182mm of rain meanwhile from 1981 to 2010 the June average rainfall at the Red Deer Regional Airport was 94mm.  

You can report a landslide to the City’s engineering department at 403-406-8793.