Downtown Calgary being Evacuated, Hundreds of Thousands Effected

[SpiritFlyer 987]

Calgary Alberta and surrounding towns and cities are inundated with nonstop heavy rain, water far above highest flood plain.   

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6OglIzU0kM

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWkT1HkI-Yk

 

http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.1335319

 

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/calgary-orders-evacuation-of-entire-downtown-core-1.1335330

 

http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?playlistId=1.1335319

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/06/21/alberta-flooding-calgary-canmore-high-water.html

 

I have children and grandchildren there, but safe, at least for now, I think... Water rolls east with dozens of communities and Medicine Hat in the crosshairs.

[Cessnaflyer 56]

I live about 400 miles to the Southwest and the rain has been coming down for days. Today is our first day with sun in about 5 days which is rare for living in a shrub-steppe area. The wheat has been loving the two inches of rain we have received!

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

The Bow River flows east to Lake Winnipeg and onto Hudson's Bay so hopefully their won't be more problems downstream. There are control dams and hydroelectric dams which help to control the flow of water.

 

The flooding is effecting about 100,000 people so far in both Calgary and Banff, What a mess.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

ytzpilot, on 21 Jun 2013 - 5:40 PM, said:

 

The Bow River flows east to Lake Winnipeg and onto Hudson's Bay so hopefully their won't be more problems downstream. There are control dams and hydroelectric dams which help to control the flow of water.

 

The flooding is effecting about 100,000 people so far in both Calgary and Banff, What a mess.

It certainly is. Nearly 200,000 more work in the downtown core, which houses the bulk of the economic powerhouse of Alberta. With the downtown electrical, waterworks and transportation systems and lower levels flooded and severely damaged it is going to a massive hit economically. It will likely be a fairly lasting blow to many of the companies involved, especially the smaller ones.

[n4gix 4,947]

Wow! What a wicked water trap that is on the downtown golf course!

 

I just had to giggle a bit when I read the gist of this story: "CTV anchor Darrel Janz talks about being rescued from his home after ignoring evacuation warnings."

 

My prayers go out for everyone affected's continued safety...

[HighTowers 1,434]

I hope all are able to get to safety. Its pretty bad. My parents were staying in YYC downtown for the weekend enroute to YVR and ended up evacuating from the order. They were on the 22nd floor of the hotel with no power. Pretty crazy flooding. There is report of deaths unfortunately. Terrible. 

[Nathan3219 113]

Sad. I hope the best for the people of Alberta.

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

I just read the animals from the Calgary Zoo had to be relocated, most of them to a local wildlife sanctuary, however the Lions and Tigers and other carnivores have been moved to the city jail.

[LeeL 272]

I just read the animals from the Calgary Zoo had to be relocated, most of them to a local wildlife sanctuary, however the Lions and Tigers and other carnivores have been moved to the city jail.

Yes I saw that too. Only in Calgary lol

The people of Calgary and area are great and as a fellow Albertan resident I'm thinking of them

[goates 576]

 

 

however the Lions and Tigers and other carnivores have been moved to the city jail.

 

So far that is just a contingency plan, and hasn't actually happened.

 

The Saddledome, where the Calgary Flames play, is flooded up to at least the 10th row of seats. Some reports now say up to the 14th row.

 

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Saddledome+officials+staff+safe+expect+significant+damage/8561161/story.html

 

It isn't just Calgary and Banff, but most of Southern Alberta. Lethbridge, High River, Turner Valley and the Crowsnest Pass have all been affected too. Turner Valley had an additional scare with a sour gas pipeline rupturing in the flooding. Thankfully that didn't become a major problem. Basically the entire town of Bragg Creek was flooded out.

 

And yeah, there were many people that didn't leave when first asked to do. Some of this was because they weren't heavily affected by the last major flooding in 2005. However, Mother Nature decided it was time for one of her 100 year floods. Not much you can do when she decides she really wants to do something.

 

Here are a couple of videos from Canmore. This creek is typically a couple meters wide, if there is even any water in it at all.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWClAZguPg4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBt5MISANm4

 

And here's what's left of the Trans-Canada Highway, and CP Rail line underneath.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_IbrPIsLyg

[Houghton11 12]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1hgTb7pGvkI

 

From a buddy at work. Kind of hard to see the flooding, but this is just as it was starting to get a little crazy.

 

Basically as you see the rivers they are really only supposed to be about half that width. They spilled over into many of the nearby roads that evening.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

This event is considered a once in history event, if there is such a thing. There is something like 3 times the volume of water that has been experienced before. Drumheller and Medicine Hat as well as numerous smaller cities and towns are in dire danger.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/06/22/alberta-floods-evacuations.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-dP0H2N0nXw

 

Much of downtown Medicine Hat will be covered and there is great risk to the primary Trans-Canada Canadian Pacific Railroad Bridge just down river from the old Finley Bridge. Both just barely survived floods less than half this size a few years ago.

 

 

 

In the 1995 flood I was there for the event and witnessed the CPR drive several locomotives onto the bridge to try and hold it down. The water was a foot or so underneath both bridges. It is much higher this time.

 

 

 

I first drove across the Finley on Jan. 1, 1973 at the helm of a 1972 Chrysler New Yorker. I met a car and closed my eyes, but did not take either mirror off!

 

 

 

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

Flooding sucks it destroys everything in its path. Use basements for things that non replaceable items. Been flooded twice and winter ends when ice melts and things break lose. Winnipeg is smart they built a series dikes to divert the garbage the red river throws at it and Fargo been trying to get same dikes Winnipeg had and gets flooded over and over.

[justinxfan 4]

I live in Vancouver, and our class went camping, we were not happy with what we experienced!

[goates 576]

 

 

Winnipeg is smart they built a series dikes to divert the garbage the red river throws at it and Fargo been trying to get same dikes Winnipeg had and gets flooded over and over.

 

After the floods in Calgary in 2005 the Province and City did a study that concluded that $300 million of dikes and other changes would prevent the sort of damage that happened. Of course that looked like a huge price tag at the time, and then the economic mess happened, so almost nothing was done. Now we're looking at billions in damage.