Calgary flooding

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

There is huge devastation in Bragg Creek, High River, Banff and Canmore.

All that water in Banff and Canmore has to come through Calgary sooner or later. I don't think we've seen even the worst of it yet. It's not raining here in the city but it's been getting steadily worse all day upstream.

This is way worse than 2005, and there was significant damage to the city back then.

What a sad terrible day for so many.

Yah But the good thing is there's good service to take care of it as quickly as possible.

Like I said, I am from a very flood prone country and I have suffered the worst. I know how terrified people can be, especially if they are not used to such incident at regular basis. Hope everything gets well soon.

[sphelps]

Hard to believe considering the weather is kind of nice where I am, don't think I'll be heading to the city anytime soon. Hope everyone in the zones are come out OK and the power cuts don't destroy any ones tanks.

Some good pics here
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23yycflood&src=hash

[daplatapus]

Talked to friends and family today in Canmore and it's bad. A few of them have been evacuated and are staying with other friends. One of our friends back yard is gone and the Cougar Creek was only a few feet from the house. They're not sure if it's there still
And my wife's cousin owns a little ranch beside the rail tracks that they do horse back rides and such and it's 2' under water. They had to move all their horses 2X as the water just kept rising.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Talked to friends and family today in Canmore and it's bad. A few of them have been evacuated and are staying with other friends. One of our friends back yard is gone and the Cougar Creek was only a few feet from the house. They're not sure if it's there still
And my wife's cousin owns a little ranch beside the rail tracks that they do horse back rides and such and it's 2' under water. They had to move all their horses 2X as the water just kept rising.

Holy crap :O

Sorry for being ignorant but where is the upstream coming from? I thought Calgary and the adjacent areas are situated in the highest point in whole Alberta.

[daplatapus]

Cougar creek in Canmore comes straight out of one of the mountain valleys, and joins the Bow River right in Canmore. With all that rain and the resulting melt of snow pack filled and overflowed the creek bed which is pretty much dry most of the year. That right now is creating most of the damage there I believe.
I lived there 20 years and every year that creek floods and screws up the railway and bridge that goes over it. Usually they are able to get some machinery in there and clear debris before it damages anything but I guess this year was just too much.

[intarsiabox]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

Holy crap :O

Sorry for being ignorant but where is the upstream coming from? I thought Calgary and the adjacent areas are situated in the highest point in whole Alberta.

Water from the rivers on the east side of the continental divide (basically the divide follows the BC/Alberta border in the southern half of the province) all flows easterly. Unfortunately Canmore, Calgary, etc have the water flowing towards the communities and not away from them regardless of sea elevation. My wife's family all live in Calgary but luckily none are near the evacuation areas.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Cougar creek in Canmore comes straight out of one of the mountain valleys, and joins the Bow River right in Canmore. With all that rain and the resulting melt of snow pack filled and overflowed the creek bed which is pretty much dry most of the year. That right now is creating most of the damage there I believe.
I lived there 20 years and every year that creek floods and screws up the railway and bridge that goes over it. Usually they are able to get some machinery in there and clear debris before it damages anything but I guess this year was just too much.

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

Water from the rivers on the east side of the continental divide (basically the divide follows the BC/Alberta border in the southern half of the province) all flows easterly. Unfortunately Canmore, Calgary, etc have the water flowing towards the communities and not away from them regardless of sea elevation. My wife's family all live in Calgary but luckily none are near the evacuation areas.

Thanks for the explanation

I hope this ordeal gets dealt with quickly and everyone affected can return to their home. Something very unexpected for Calgary.

[Jakegr]

The 2005 floods seem minor compared to that. In one picture it looked like the river rose about 2 m in the last two days.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Jakegr

The 2005 floods seem minor compared to that. In one picture it looked like the river rose about 2 m in the last two days.

I've lived beside the river in this community for over 30 years and I've seen the river crest quite a few times. This is definitely the worst it has ever been!

[Coralgurl]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Talked to friends and family today in Canmore and it's bad. A few of them have been evacuated and are staying with other friends. One of our friends back yard is gone and the Cougar Creek was only a few feet from the house. They're not sure if it's there still
And my wife's cousin owns a little ranch beside the rail tracks that they do horse back rides and such and it's 2' under water. They had to move all their horses 2X as the water just kept rising.

Sorry to hear this!! So terrible. I've grown up here and I've never seen anything like this. YEs we get bad storms, but so many areas affected.....I hope your friends and family are somewhere safe and that the worst is over. Somehow I don't think it is with more rain in the forecast....