CALGARY - A county in southern Alberta has declared a state of emergency and is warning riverside residents that they may need to leave their homes as heavy rains continue to soak the region.
Lethbridge County, which covers the area around the city of Lethbridge, says forecasts call for extremely high water levels on the Oldman River.
The county says there's potential to reach levels seen in 1995, when heavy rains pushed rivers over their banks from Pincher Creek to Medicine Hat and more than 3,000 people had to flee their homes.
It says Oldman River valley residents should prepared for an evacuation order sometime on Wednesday, depending on river levels.
Farmers are being advised to move their livestock and people are being told to stay away from riverbanks.
The city of Lethbridge says on its website that it has not declared a state of emergency, but is monitoring the situation.
Forecasters are calling for as much as 200 millimetres of rain in the southwest corner of the province by Thursday morning.
It's been a year since 100,000 people had to flee their homes in southern Alberta because of extensive flooding. Communities hit by that flood — including Canmore, Calgary and High River — are further to the north of the current rain-soaked area.
In 2013, more than 300 millimetres of rain feel in some places over a 2 1/2-day period.