The Great Flooded North

[Inky_Wretch]

Up to 100,000 Canadians may be displaced by heavy flooding. I none of our Canuckistani SJers are dealing with this.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/20/floods-wash-away-roads-in-canmore-close-trans-canada-highway-and-trigger-emergencies-across-southern-alberta/

 

[Beef03]

There are some wild pics and video out there of houses and high ways being swept away. It is crazy how much of Southern Alberta is underwater. I know there are a few members of SJ.ca who are in Calgary and area, my thoughts and prayers are with you as well as the rest of region tonight. Stay safe and stay dry. I know there are a lot of people offering spare rooms and beds, please find one if you one.

 

[Beef03]

Even Red Deer, which is about an hour and three quarters north of Calgary is under flood warnings.

 

[H.L. Mencken]

Very sad. And yet ole Mencken is damn pleased and surprised this is not about the Kardashian/West spawn.

 

[MileHigh]

Sad to see. My brother got married in Banff six years ago and I stayed in Canmore for a week-plus and it's gorgeous up there. Hope everyone stays safe.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Eric Francis ‏@EricFrancis 10m
BREAKING: Water is up to row 10 at Saddledome. Dressing rooms completely submerged. Jumbotron rm & all equipment destroyed. #yycflood #NHL

 

[Iron_chet]

It's pretty calm here and most people I know are sitting at home watching the flood on TV. Many of the agencies say they do not need volunteers (will probably need them more for the clean up). Most of us suburban loosers have been offerring up space to people who are displaced by the water.

A buddy of mine, his wife and daughter have had their condo in a trendy downtown area flooded out. He got in from Dallas last night, grabbed his hard drives, laptop and some photography equipment and crashed at a coworkers place. They are coming here tonight as we have a little more space.

Lots of lookee lous out on the roads. The City is telling everyone to stay home from work and get thehell away from water so your dumb ass does not have to rescued.

I am working from home coordinating some Red Cross supplies coming from the West Coast for some of the shelters in the city (I am an airline guy).

 

[misterbc]

I live very near the Glenmore Reservoir and there is speculation the *** may not hold, which would result in devastation downstream.
Also talk the Calgary Stampede may be cancelled. Scheduled to start in 2 weeks but Stampede Park is under water.....that's where the Saddledome is located. Calgary Zoo underwater.
Still significant rain forecast for mountains west of here which is headwaters of the Bow and Elbow rivers. Even homes on high ground have flooded basements. Drinking water supply is not contaminated, thankfully.

 

[Armchair_QB]

I live very near the Glenmore Reservoir and there is speculation the *** may not hold, which would result in devastation downstream.
Also talk the Calgary Stampede may be cancelled. Scheduled to start in 2 weeks but Stampede Park is under water.....that's where the Saddledome is located. Calgary Zoo underwater.
Still significant rain forecast for mountains west of here which is headwaters of the Bow and Elbow rivers. Even homes on high ground have flooded basements. Drinking water supply is not contaminated, thankfully.

Read somewhere that the Zoo had an evacuation plan for its animals but would be interested to know where they moved them to. That couldn't have been easy.

 

[Iron_chet]

I live very near the Glenmore Reservoir and there is speculation the *** may not hold, which would result in devastation downstream.
Also talk the Calgary Stampede may be cancelled. Scheduled to start in 2 weeks but Stampede Park is under water.....that's where the Saddledome is located. Calgary Zoo underwater.
Still significant rain forecast for mountains west of here which is headwaters of the Bow and Elbow rivers. Even homes on high ground have flooded basements. Drinking water supply is not contaminated, thankfully.

Read somewhere that the Zoo had an evacuation plan for its animals but would be interested to know where they moved them to. That couldn't have been easy.

Supposedly they were going to take the big cats to the Court House but that is just a rumor. Station here had the PR Flack from the zoo on about 5 minutes ago who said that no animals evacuated yet but some moved to higher ground at the zoo.

 

[misterbc]

The Zoo has moved the big cats to rooms in the basement in the court house. That must have been some amazing work by the staff.
Another surge in water level for the rivers is expected over the next days (maybe hours).
We are tough birds out here but this is a major deal. Not like New Orleans but if the *** on the Elbow river holding back the Glenmore Reservoir doesn't hold, this flood will be a multi billion dollar mess.
I have evacuated my sister in law from her downtown apt. in the 'Beltline' area, a densely populated area with many apartment buildings and condos. Anyone living in low lying areas have parked their cars on higher ground so streets are lined with vehicles.
People seem calm and are already accepting the immediate future and looking to the other side of this. Many people who live in flood prone areas in some of the affected small towns can not buy flood insurance so many will loose their homes with no insurance coverage. The rivers and creeks all over this area look like giant rivers of chocolate milk. East-west travel in southern Alberta and BC is basically impossible.

 

[Beef03]

The Zoo has moved the big cats to rooms in the basement in the court house. That must have been some amazing work by the staff.
Another surge in water level for the rivers is expected over the next days (maybe hours).
We are tough birds out here but this is a major deal. Not like New Orleans but if the *** on the Elbow river holding back the Glenmore Reservoir doesn't hold, this flood will be a multi billion dollar mess.
I have evacuated my sister in law from her downtown apt. in the 'Beltline' area, a densely populated area with many apartment buildings and condos. Anyone living in low lying areas have parked their cars on higher ground so streets are lined with vehicles.
People seem calm and are already accepting the immediate future and looking to the other side of this. Many people who live in flood prone areas in some of the affected small towns can not buy flood insurance so many will loose their homes with no insurance coverage. The rivers and creeks all over this area look like giant rivers of chocolate milk. East-west travel in southern Alberta and BC is basically impossible.

Heard the courthouse thing was a hoax.

The bit about the uninsurable houses is heartbreaking. I badly want to move back to Alberta, but glad I am missing this. The weather has been more screwed up than usual this year. East of Edmonton, they still had 8-12 foot snow drifts in late April, tornadoes last week and now this. ****ed up.

 

[misterbc]

News reporter just said the Bow River flow rate is 1500 cubic meters/sec. which is 3 times the rate in 2005, the last time there was a major flood in Calgary.
Beef, the great thing about Alberta is the optimistic attitude people have. People work hard and play hard. Problems get worked out quickly. I think you have ties to the Edmonton area so you know what I mean.
Some areas of the city are without power and hopefully outages don't spread. That would be bad news as it's cold and rainy and it would obviously mean more evacuations of senior facilities and slow the overall recovery.

 

[Beef03]

News reporter just said the Bow River flow rate is 1500 cubic meters/sec. which is 3 times the rate in 2005, the last time there was a major flood in Calgary.
Beef, the great thing about Alberta is the optimistic attitude people have. People work hard and play hard. Problems get worked out quickly. I think you have ties to the Edmonton area so you know what I mean.
Some areas of the city are without power and hopefully outages don't spread. That would be bad news as it's cold and rainy and it would obviously mean more evacuations of senior facilities and slow the overall recovery.

I absolutely know what you mean. Part of the reason I love the province as much as I do and still consider it my home. I've lived all over Alberta, including Calgary. I have family in Edmonton and Eastern Alberta and a ton of friends in Calgary and southern Alberta. It sucks to sit here and be useless in BC, seeing all the pics constantly updated on FB and twitter and other sites. At least so far everyone I know is in OK shape.

Hopefully the *** holds. It would be devastating if that thing went.

Stay safe misterbc and Iron_Chet and others. Thoughts, prayers, all that heading your way.

 

[misterbc]

My wife and I just returned to Calgary yesterday afternoon after a 17 day camping holiday down to Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. We had fantastic weather the whole time until Wednesday night in Radium BC. The campground had a creek that was a raging torrent so we left early Thursday morning. I wasn't sure how long the small bridge in/out of the campground would hold out. I checked the road conditions and saw the Trans Canada Highway was closed at Canmore so we back-tracked S down #93 to #3 at Cranbrook and headed east. The rain and wind was incredible. Along #3 there were parts of the highway washed away and the creeks and rivers were screaming. Normally tame waterfalls along the side of the road were raging torrents, spilling halfway onto the road. One lane traffic only. Big back ***s and Cats trying to clear supplementary channels to help dissipate the water. Small rock and mud slides created additional hazards. I can't believe that highway could still be open but as yet haven't heard of a closure. That's why east-west travel looks damn near impossible. All the news is about Calgary and environs so the closure of a highway not directly connected to Calgary might not be newsworthy here. There have to be concerns about parts of southern BC as well.
Water in Saddledome now reaching suite level. Cant' pump it out.

 

[Beef03]

Absolutely crazy. I think I saw a picture last night show Crowsnest pass and it not being so passable anymore. Glad to hear you made it back safe. I whiteknuckled that drive in a blizzard at christmas time. I imagine it was similar for you yesterday.

 

[Double J]

I talked tonight to my cousin, who lives in Calgary and works at the zoo. She doesn't have any first-hand info about the animals - she was sent home yesterday afternoon and hasn't been contacted by her boss - but says they're safe as far as she knows. I hope she's right.

 

[Mark2010]

Some pretty good photos of the flooding damage at the Saddledome and Stampede Park:

http://o.canada.com/2013/06/21/saddledome-officials-say-staff-safe-expect-significant-damage/

 

[Armchair_QB]

I'm sure the mayor is just trying to boost morale in that story, but there's no way the Stampede happens this year, right?

 

[Mark2010]

I was thinking just the opposite. I am betting they get the place cleaned up and have the Stampede. Might be a few days late or some areas not working as normal, but I'm betting they have it.