Ministry of Justice Emergency Management BC

VICTORIA - The provincial government is offering a variety of front-line assistance to its neighbours as the full impact of severe flooding in Calgary and other communities in southern Alberta becomes clearer.

* Emergency Management BC has made a formal offer of assistance on behalf of the B.C. government to support response and recovery efforts.

* The Ministry of Health has put forward a standing offer of resources such as health-emergency-management support, health-care professionals, public-health inspectors, and potentially the mobile medical unit if required to provide health-service continuity to impacted areas.

* To bolster the ranks of Alberta's first responders as needed, the BC Ambulance Service has offered to supply additional ambulance support, including that now already in place in the Lake Louise area.

* To help ensure the mobility of first responders, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has offered Parks Canada temporary bridge components in the event any bridges are rendered unsafe or washed away. The ministry is shipping one of these temporary bridges today for use on the Trans-Canada Highway between Banff and Canmore, and has also offered assistance with erecting the bridge. It has also contacted the bridge manufacturer to see if it can help as well.

* The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is also working with its Alberta Transportation counterparts and Parks Canada to co-ordinate alternative route information so Drive BC and the Alberta Motor Association's road condition website offer consistent details.

* With hundreds of homes reportedly semi-submerged and thousands more structures flooded, BC Housing is keeping a damage assessment team on standby and ready to assist.

* The ministries of Environment and Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations are collaborating with the Vancouver Zoo to prepare in case Calgary Zoo animals require relocation.

News from © iNFOnews, 2013