As communities across the Prairies continue to deal with the risk of flooding that accompanies spring thaw, the threat of a dam breaking in the southern Alberta city of Medicine Hat subsided Wednesday, though a state of emergency remains in effect for it and the surrounding county.

Predictions of Seven Persons Creek rising as much as 60 centimetres led to a state of emergency being declared in Medicine Hat Tuesday. However, officials said Wednesday managing melt water flows helped relieve the pressure, though high stream flows were expected to continue.

The fact that rising water levels in streams in the region could affect some 500 homes saw voluntary evacuation alerts issued to residents by officials Tuesday night, though the notice was lifted Wednesday.

The annual flood season has proved deadly on the Prairies, with the weekend death of a 35 year old man from Lac du Bonnet, Man., following the rolling of his car into a flooded ditch near the Lee River in eastern Manitoba.

The RCMP called to the community, around 110 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg Sunday, found the man in the vehicle, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Raymond Stott, 61, died south of Winnipeg last week after his truck was swept away by the current, while driving on a flooded gravel road near the Marsh River.

The flooding has also prompted states of emergency in a handful of Prairie communities like the south-western Manitoba city of Brandon, where rising waters in a south side water retention pond threaten 700 homes with overland flooding.

Alberta Environment and Alberta Emergency Management Agency staff were on site in Medicine Hat, Wednesday, with an evacuation centre set up in a ballroom at the Medicine Hat Stampede Grandstand.

Last June, torrential rain in south-eastern Alberta caused flood damage totalling $54 million in Medicine Hat alone.