Alberta storm: Heritage Festival and Big Valley Jamboree cut short, Edson flooded

A tree lays on a road in Edson, Alta., on Aug. 4, 2024, after a storm. (Credit: Kevin Zahara)

A storm wreaked havoc in Edmonton and the surrounding area Sunday evening.

In the capital city, the storm caused "significant damage" to the Heritage Festival's infrastructure, including electrical, propane and water systems, leading organizers to cancel activities on Monday, the third and final day of the event.

The extent of the damage was not yet calculated, the festival association's president, Bruce Hogle, told CTV News Edmonton that afternoon. 

"It's really devastating for us as an organization and all the different cultural groups here. This is a huge day for everyone in here. A lot of these pavilion groups – it's all the lost revenue that they have today... But it's also the goods they purchased, the food that they prepared is now a sunk cost for them," he said. 

He said crews were at the site until 2 a.m. and returned at 5 a.m. to try to turn it into hosting shape, but couldn't. 

"Safety is our priority and people understand that. We're not going to put people at risk for that."

He said losing a day puts the 2025 festival at risk. The festival assocation is accepting donations through its website and plans to help support pavilions. 

Edson floods

The storm caused flooding, power outages, and downed trees across Edson, a town of 8,400 located 200 kilometres west of Edmonton.

According to Mayor Kevin Zahara, 42 millimetres of rain fell in a single hour. 

"There is a massive cleanup underway, both on town infrastructure and private properties as well," he told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday. 

Videos sent to CTV News Edmonton and posted online showed water nearly up to the headlights of some vehicles.

A storm flooded parts of Edson, Alta., on Aug. 4, 2024. (Credit: Kevin Zahara)

As bad as the images looked, Zahara said a 2023 storm caused more destruction.

"We did have some bank erosion so that's going to have to be dealt with, but overall, some of the flood mitigation work that we did over last year and into this year has worked," he said. 

He says Premier Danielle Smith stopped in Edson for a tour of the damage on Monday and they discussed the community's "infrastructure needs." 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, left, takes a tour of storm damage in Edson on Aug. 5, 2024, with Mayor Kevin Zahara, centre, and MLA Martin Long. (Credit: Kevin Zahara)

"Any event like this does tax our resources. So crews are going to be busy all week doing cleanup, which means that other work they may have been planning on doing this week isn't going to get completed," he told CTV News Edmonton. 

"It would be nice to go a summer without an emergency. But the Town of Edson and our residents are completely resilient.

"It was very impressive to see: The night of the storm, there were people coming out to the streets, pulling out their chainsaws and getting the trees removed so traffic could flow through and checking in on neighbours. So everybody comes together."

The town extended hours and waived fees to the landfill for the cleanup and advised residents to document damage for insurance purposes.

Big Valley Jamboree cut short

Southeast of Edmonton in Camrose, the Big Valley Jamboree music festival ended its final night early because of severe weather.

Many attendees camp for the weekend.

Festival goers were told to take shelter on site before the remainder of Sunday's acts were cancelled.