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| Central Calgary evacuated as flood threatens city | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 22 Jun 2013, 12:57 AM (89 Views) | |
| skibboy | 22 Jun 2013, 12:57 AM Post #1 |
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21 June 2013 Central Calgary evacuated as flood threatens city ![]() Footage of a roof colliding with a bridge in Bragg Creek, Alberta Authorities have ordered the evacuation of central Calgary as flooding has left swathes of the city underwater. Torrential rain and floodwaters have washed away roads and bridges around Alberta's largest city and have caused landslides elsewhere in the province. Both rivers that flow through Calgary, the Bow and Elbow, have flooded. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to tour flood-damaged areas later on Friday and has promised federal assistance. The Elbow crested near the city on Friday but Alberta Premier Alison Redford warned residents should be prepared for more flooding downstream. Communities further south were under total evacuation orders. Roughly half the homes in the town of High River were flooded. Swept away While an estimated 230,000 people live and work in central Calgary, officials believed there would be few people to evacuate because many did not come to work on Friday. Some 25 neighbourhoods in Calgary, a city of one million, had already been evacuated. An estimated 75,000 residents have been ordered out of their homes. The floods come after a rainy week in Alberta, capped by 4in (10cm) of downpour on Thursday. ![]() The Calgary Stampede grounds and Saddledome are flooded in Calgary Military helicopters rescued about 30 people off rooftops in the Calgary area. At least 350 soldiers are being dispatched to the flood zone, according to the defence minister's office. The mountain resorts of Banff and Canmore were left isolated after the Trans-Canada Highway was closed. One resident of Canmore said he awoke in the middle of the night to a "kind of rumbling" sound and realised it was the nearby creek. "At first it was just intense, pretty powerful, amazing thing to watch," Wade Graham told the Associated Press. "As daylight came, it just got bigger and bigger and wider and wider, and it's still getting bigger and bigger and wider and wider." "I watched a refrigerator go by. I watched a shed go by. I watched couches go by. It's insane," he added. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said about 1,500 people went to emergency shelters while the rest were staying with family or friends. Daniel Kilgallon, who is staying with his relatives after evacuating his flat, told the BBC: "The city has stopped functioning. Nobody can remember a flood like this ever happening here." 'An ocean' Mr Nenshi warned that although the Elbow had crested, the city was not yet out of danger. The Bow river, which Mr Nenshi said looked like "an ocean at the moment", is expected to remain at its current level for the next 12 hours. ![]() Canmore resident Sarah Pearson describes escaping across a bridge on a school bus Police have advised people against travelling to the city centre. Public transit there has been shut and schools are closed. Officials said lions and tigers from the Calgary Zoo may need to be transferred to prisoner holding cells. Two zebras and two pigs have already been moved to a conservation centre. The Saddledome, home to Calgary's professional hockey team, is also flooded with water levels rising to the stadium's 10th row. Calgary resident Marshall Strong told the BBC several of his family members' homes were flooded. "One farm that we went to had 60 cattle drowned in the fields," he said. "It is truly unbelievable what has happened in such a short time. Calgary is a strong city and we have held it together better then we imagined." No deaths have been reported, although one woman swept away in a mobile home is still missing. Source:
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| skibboy | 22 Jun 2013, 01:26 AM Post #2 |
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Calgary under water as province braces for more flooding By Michael Pearson, CNN June 21, 2013 ![]() Watch a home float down a river (CNN) -- Rivers fed by torrential mountain rains spilled across the prairies of southern Alberta, Canada, Friday, turning Calgary streets into rivers and threatening to wash away a similarly monstrous flood in 2005 as the western Canadian province's most costly natural disaster. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the Bow and Elbow rivers were carrying as much three times as much water through Calgary as they did during that flood, which obliterated roads, chased residents from their homes and drowned livestock on the way to causing more than $400 million in damages. "The Bow River looks like an ocean at the moment," he said. Even as Calgary was dealing with the brunt of the flooding, residents downstream of the city -- backed by engineers rushed into place by the Canadian military -- braced for the coming floods. Communities including Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge have already declared emergencies ahead of the expected flooding, said Alberta Premier Alison Redford. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper toured affected areas by helicopter Friday afternoon along with Nenshi and Redford. "Difficult day seeing so much devastation in southern Alberta, but encouraged by resilient spirit of so many Albertans," Redford tweeted. She said Harper pledged federal support. In Calgary, the 17,000-seat Saddledome -- home to the NHL Calgary Flames -- was flooded, along with parts of Calgary Zoo and the Calgary Stampede grounds, where the famous annual Calgary Stampede rodeo is scheduled to take place in less than two weeks. At the zoo, on the bank of the Bow River, staff moved the pot-bellied pigs and zebras to a safe location off-site. The zoo said the other animals were moved to higher ground. Residents in Calgary seemed alternately shocked by the flooding and willing to take it in stride. "I don't think anybody's ever seen water flow through the streets," Calgary resident Rylan Broadbent told CNN Friday after evacuating his apartment building in the Erlton neighborhood, next to the overflowing Elbow River. Others were more melancholy about the scope of the flooding, which forced more than 75,000 residents out of their homes and left the heart of the city largely deserted. "We're not out of the woods yet," Neala Barton, the spokeswoman for the Alberta government, told CNN. Clean water continued to flow to homes, but the city ordered power to be shut off in evacuated areas, according to ENMAX, the energy utility. It said power would be restored as those areas are deemed safe. Some shelters in the city were filled to capacity, Calgary officials said Friday. Schools were closed. Officials said most of the city's many bridges were holding against the water, but at least one was under water and another had washed out. Still the city's director of roads reassured residents the bridges are safe. "The piers, the abutments on either side of the bridges, are right down to bedrock. What that means is what they are standing on is absolutely tied to the ground," Ryan Jestin said in a video posted on the city's website, standing in the rain overlooking the flooded Bow River downtown. Meanwhile, Calgary police said they were patrolling evacuated areas to ensure that vacant homes and businesses would remain as safe as possible. Emergency officials praised the calm, orderly evacuations overnight of 25 Calgary neighborhoods, but pleaded with gawkers to stay away from flooded areas and asked residents to stay off the telephone so emergency workers could be sure to get a connection. Authorities declared a state of emergency in several cities, including the mountain town of Canmore, where on Thursday, raging water tore out a portion of the Trans-Canada Highway. "Like everything, everything, is destroyed there -- our homes, like everything," Alberta resident Melanie Atkinson, who lost her home in the flooding, told Canadian broadcaster CBC. Rescue crews used heavy construction equipment to rescue people from homes and businesses Thursday in High River, the network reported. Canada's military was pitching in with helicopters and other assets to help local officials with rescue and evacuation efforts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those families who have been affected by the serious flooding in Calgary and Southern Alberta," Harper said, adding that the federal government would provide "any and all possible assistance." No deaths or injuries have been reported. The flooding was caused by a slow-moving storm that dumped 154 millimeters (more than 6 inches) of rain on the region from Wednesday to Thursday, CNN meteorologist Sherri Pugh said. As much as another inch of rain, about 25 millimeters, is possible northwest of Calgary on Friday, and yet another front is expected Monday, bringing the threat of more rain. Calgary, near the Canadian Rocky Mountains, is perhaps best known for its rodeo, held each July. More than 1.4 million people attended last year, organizers say. This year's Stampede events are due to begin in 13 days. It was unclear if the flooding would affect the event, but organizers did say on their website that other events scheduled at the park where the Stampede is held have been canceled through Sunday. Calgary authorities are using the park as a staging area for flood response efforts. CNN's Melissa Gray, Joe Sutton and Jake Carpenter contributed to this report. Source:
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| skibboy | 23 Jun 2013, 01:37 AM Post #3 |
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Two dead in calamitous Alberta flooding By Michael Pearson, CNN June 22, 2013 ![]() Calgary flooding victims being rescued (CNN) -- Rivers fed by torrential mountain rains spilled across the prairies of southern Alberta, Canada, Friday, leaving two people dead and covering downtown Calgary in brown floodwater. The two victims were caught up in the river that runs through the town of High River, about 40 miles south of Calgary, said Sgt. Josee Valiquette of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The two people have not been identified; a third person, a woman, remains missing. High River is one of several communities where residents have been evacuated because of the flooding. Red Deer, 90 miles north of Calgary, and Lethbridge, about 130 miles to the south of the city, also have evacuations in place. About 10,000 people in Medicine Hat, in southeastern Alberta, were being evacuated Friday ahead of the expected cresting of the South Saskatchewan River on Saturday, city spokeswoman Brandy Calvert said. That's about one-sixth of the city's 62,000 residents, she said. Officials expect Saturday's flood to surpass the one they had in 1995, which was the biggest on record, Calvert said. In Calgary, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the Bow and Elbow rivers were carrying as much three times as much water through Calgary as they did during the city's monstrous 2005 flood, which obliterated roads, chased residents from their homes and drowned livestock on the way to causing more than $400 million in damages. "The Bow River looks like an ocean at the moment," he said. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper toured affected areas by helicopter Friday afternoon along with Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Nenshi. "Difficult day seeing so much devastation in southern Alberta, but encouraged by resilient spirit of so many Albertans," Redford tweeted. She said Harper pledged federal support. Redford gave her condolences to the families of the flood victims and urged Albertans in flood-affected areas to stay safe. In Calgary, the 17,000-seat Saddledome -- home to the NHL Calgary Flames -- was flooded, along with parts of Calgary Zoo and the Calgary Stampede grounds, where the famous annual Calgary Stampede rodeo is scheduled to take place in less than two weeks. At the zoo, on the bank of the Bow River, staff moved the pot-bellied pigs and zebras to a safe location off-site. The zoo said the other animals were moved to higher ground. As of Friday night, 25 neighborhoods in Calgary including most of downtown, were evacuated. They were also without power after the city ordered ENMAX, the energy utility, to shut it off in evacuated areas. Clean water continued to flow to homes, but the city asked residents to limit their use as much as possible. Residents in Calgary seemed alternately shocked by the flooding and willing to take it in stride. "I don't think anybody's ever seen water flow through the streets," Calgary resident Rylan Broadbent told CNN Friday after evacuating his apartment building in the Erlton neighborhood, next to the overflowing Elbow River. Others were more melancholy about the scope of the flooding, which forced more than 75,000 residents out of their homes and left the heart of the city largely deserted. "We're not out of the woods yet," Neala Barton, the spokeswoman for the Alberta government, told CNN. Some shelters in the city were filled to capacity, Calgary officials said Friday. Schools were closed. Officials said most of the city's many bridges were holding against the water, but at least one was under water and another had washed out. Still, the city's director of roads reassured residents the bridges are safe. "The piers, the abutments on either side of the bridges, are right down to bedrock. What that means is what they are standing on is absolutely tied to the ground," Ryan Jestin said in a video posted on the city's website, standing in the rain overlooking the flooded Bow River downtown. Meanwhile, Calgary police said they were patrolling evacuated areas to ensure that vacant homes and businesses would remain as safe as possible. Authorities declared a state of emergency in several cities, including the mountain town of Canmore, where on Thursday, raging water tore out a portion of the Trans-Canada Highway. Rescue crews used heavy construction equipment to rescue people from homes and businesses Thursday in High River, the network reported. Canada's military was pitching in with helicopters and other assets to help local officials with rescue and evacuation efforts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. The flooding was caused by a slow-moving storm that dumped 154 millimeters (more than 6 inches) of rain on the region from Wednesday to Thursday, CNN meteorologist Sherri Pugh said. As much as another inch of rain, about 25 millimeters, is possible northwest of Calgary on Friday, and yet another front is expected Monday, bringing the threat of more rain. Calgary, near the Canadian Rocky Mountains, is perhaps best known for its rodeo, held each July. More than 1.4 million people attended last year, organizers say. This year's Stampede events are due to begin in 13 days. It was unclear if the flooding would affect the event, but organizers did say on their website that other events scheduled at the park where the Stampede is held have been canceled through Sunday. Calgary authorities are using the park as a staging area for flood response efforts. CNN's Melissa Gray, Joe Sutton and Jake Carpenter contributed to this report. Source:
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9:34 AM Jul 11