Heavy rainfall causes lane closure on Highway 63 in Fort McMurray

A section of a major transportation artery inFort McMurrayremains closed this week as crews clean up after a mudslide.

On Saturday night, asectionof the hill that shoulders Highway 63collapsed on to one of the lanes near Morrison Street.

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The mudslide has affected asouthboundlane,which is used to bypass traffic headed to the downtown core.

Trafficcontinues to flow uninterrupted on the restofthe five-lane highway.

Alberta Transportation spokesperson Wayne Wood said no vehicles were damaged as a result of the landslide, which was first reported Saturday around10 p.m.

Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo spokesperson AdamHardiman said it's too early to say if the landslide on Highway 63 will impactmunicipal or private property that sits on the hill abovethe roadway.

The lane will remain closed most of theweek, Wood said, until engineers can be certain that the hill is stable.

The mudslide was just one problem in the region, aftera weekend of heavy rainfall.

On social media people posted pictures of flooded streets, including Grey Crescentin the neighbourhoodof Gregoire.

Residents in the trailer park told CBCMonday their properties were not seriously damaged and they spent the weekendcleaning up their driveways and yards.

The municipality also said in a email statement Monday that it received reports of basement flooding in the region and two reports of sewer backups.

Hospital back up and running

Alberta Health Services said things are almost back to normal after water floodedthe Northern Lights Regional Health Centre's emergency department, the kitchen and fifth floor offices on Saturday.

AHSspokesperson Lisa Laferriere said emergency and kitchen operations resumed on Sunday after both areas were cleaned, though cleanup continues on the fifth floor.

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"There was minimal impact to patient care during this time," Laferriere said in an email. "We areexploring ways to avoid this happening again and will be conducting construction to mitigate the issue in the future."

Laferriere saida storm water system backup caused the flooding in the emergency department and AHS isinvestigating the exact location of water leaks in the other locations.

Connect with David Thurton, CBC'sFort McMurraycorrespondent, onFacebook,Twitter,LinkedInor email him atdavid.thurton@cbc.ca