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“We need the rain to stop,” Steel said. “Our infrastructure is very good here, but it’s not keeping up.”

All schools were closed but students writing diploma exams were being bused from the evacuation centre to their schools. Town officials said water levels appear to have stabilized, but a heavy rainfall warning remains in effect.

“We’re asking everyone else to just stay off the streets,” said town spokeswoman Karine Wilhauk. “We’re just trying to deal with this situation. We don’t want to have any more problems.”

Claresholm resident Phyllis Faulkner watched as water poured into her basement, just as it did last year.

“I’m standing there. The water’s running in and I’m screaming at the top of my lungs, going, ‘I can’t stop it. I can’t stop it,”’ she said.

“I’m going to lose everything again — my brand-new furnace is under water again. My brand-new hot-water tank is under water again.

“They’re done. They’re toast.”

Southwestern Alberta has seen as much as 200 millimetres of rain since Monday with more precipitation forecasted for Thursday, putting an added stress on the watershed, Environment Canada meteorologist Bill McMurtry said.

During last years floods — which devastated Calgary and areas through southern Alberta — as much as 325 mm fell, with up to have of it coming within 12 hours, McMurtry said. Last year’s floods also occurred on a different watershed.

“[This week’s rain] just did not fall at the intensity as we saw last year. It’s sort of like comparing apples and oranges,” he said.