Damage shuts down Eagle Lake RV Resort for remainder of the summer

Times Reporter 

 

The storm that ripped through Southern Alberta on Aug. 14 will be one people will remember for years to come. Crops were damaged, homes were damaged and Eagle Lake RV Resort has had to shut down as a result of the excessive damage they suffered. 

This summer marks 21 years in operation for Leslie Pringle, owner/operator of Eagle Lake RV resort. The storm earlier this month was the worst she has ever seen.

“I have never seen anything like this and we’ve had some doozies. We tried to run for about a week, juggling reservations and we just couldn’t do a good enough job and keep enough people happy,” said Pringle.

“I decided at the end of the day, no matter what my insurance coverage if somebody got killed I wasn’t going to be able to live with that. We’re doing a step-by-step shutdown as we help our weekly and monthly people find new places.”

Pringle said they weren’t comfortable having their campers in potentially unsafe conditions, while trying to fix things at the same time.  On Aug. 21 the gates closed for the season.

“We’ll get this year’s development done and then we’ll reopen on time next year bigger and better,” said Pringle.

There are three different sections in the park that have had to close due to damage. Trees still need to be removed in some sections and in others there are cracked trees leaning with a potential to fall. 

“We are guessing at this stage that we’ll have lost 30 trees by the time this is done,” said Pringle. 

The roof on the pavilion and the shade pergola, which is attached to the pavilion down at the lake, have also been destroyed. Four roads have needed to be repaired, and some of the maintenance sheds were damaged.

“There was runoff damage from all of the rain that we got, and then a couple of them where the field had flooded just took out part of the road, so we had four roads rebuilt. We had some damage along the beach that wasn’t immediately obvious,” said Pringle. 

“We’re just asking everyone to understand it’s for their safety so we can make the park better for them next year. We can’t speak with any absolutes because we are working with so many outside agencies that we just have to work with everybody to get the work done. So if people can be patient we’ll keep them as informed as we can.”

One way Pringle plans to keep everyone informed is through the Eagle Lake RV Resort Facebook page.

“As we start to make improvements we’ll post pictures, and post progress reports and just let everybody know what’s going on,” said Pringle. 

The park will reopen on May 3, 2013 and Pringle said everything will look better than ever when it does.