The Village of Breton was facing a serious water risk over the Father’s Day weekend as the area received more than six inches of rain.
At 8:15 p.m. on June 21, the village issued a water restriction asking residents to avoid bathing, showering, use of dishwashers, washing machines, and to flush toilets sparingly as a precautionary measure. The restriction was lifted on the morning of June 23.
Natasha Morrisey, the CAO for the village, says crews were working overnight to ensure the water supply in the village didn’t get compromised. As a result, the integrity of their water was not affected, though they kept restrictions in place to be safe.
Though it might appear that there was a failure of infrastructure that caused the flooding, Morrisey says that’s not the case. It’s not typical for the area to receive that amount of rain in such a short period of time, and the infrastructure wasn’t able to keep up with the downpour.
“Public works was out at it since first thing [June 21],” says Morrisey. “He worked through the night, God love him.”
Morrisey was also up late that night. Their top priority was to protect their water supply and ensure they didn’t have septic backing up into people’s homes.
“We ended up calling in a couple of vac trucks, but of course they could just barely keep up and it was so wet they were getting stuck,” she says.
When it was clear the vac trucks weren’t going to do the trick, Morrisey says they brought in some large pumps that are usually used for transferring fracking water. She says using those pumps made it possible to get the lagoon down to a level where they could maintain it.
“We didn’t have to do any discharge. We were able to transfer from our one pond over to our next larger pond because the majority of the water was just groundwater,” she says.
Even with that effort, there was some flooding in the community. The ravine north of the elementary school overflowed, flooding 51st Street in front of the school. Morrisey says they also had a pump in the ravine to help alleviate some of the overflow.
The Breton Golf Course was also affected by the rain. One of the cart paths was washed out, and the course was anticipated to be closed for several days.
“The culvert washed out up there and, of course, the ground is so saturated up there,” she says.
Morrisey recommends residents keep an eye on their basements and ensure their sump pumps are working. Anyone who has concerns about water can contact the Village office at 780-696-3636.
The wet weather also caused problems elsewhere in the area. The hamlet of Wabamun faced similar problems to those encountered in Breton. Meanwhile Brazeau County closed a bridge on Range Road 42 after damage caused by rainfall.
Although the last few days have seen the arrival of clear skies and sunshine, there is more rain in the forecast for Brazeau County and Drayton Valley this weekend.
By Amanda Jeffery, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Jun 25, 2026 at 09:13
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