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Alberta Monsoons - need an ARK!

srgalahad

srgalahad

Charter Member 2022
It's been wet and rainy around here for the past month - we joke about June being monsoon season. Today it got worse.

Over the past 48 hours the area has received about 4"-6" of rain - not a lot by many standards, but combined with the already-saturated ground and about 60% of the winter snowpack remaining in the Rockies about 50 nm to the west and another 4" forecast tonight - it's gotten pretty bad.

View attachment 88969

The GE image shows an area about 120nm E-W x 100nm N-S with the significant events as of noon.
Canmore (west of YYC): Trans Canada Highwway closed - blocked by mudslide and overflowing creeks. Some residential areas flooding, washing out
Lethbridge (south of YYC): Oldman River flooding
High River(!) (south of YYC); town center flooded, sandbagging site now flooding, roads closed due bridges under water
Bragg Creek (SW of YYC): town center flooded. Gas spill from storage tank being uprooted @ service station construction
Turner Valley (South of YYC): Flooding, sour gas pipleine rupture, evacuations.
Calgary: Anticipated flooding of parts of downtown area in next 24 hours.

http://globalnews.ca/news/656789/state-of-emergency-declared-in-canmore/
http://globalnews.ca/news/657456/heavy-rains-affecting-western-canada/
http://globalnews.ca/news/657979/sour-gas-rupture-in-flooded-southern-alberta/

Me? I'm fine. A block from the river but about 10 feet above possible flood crest. My worst problem will be the grass growing a foot before I can mow it.

Obviously this isn't a third-world country and we have lots of tools and resources to work with, but it's still going to be ugly for a few days. Some people - possibly a few thousand - will be displaced and many others will suffer significant property damage. Road washouts and major highway closures will obviously hit the economy.

They say summer arrives this weekend... if it doesn't wash away
 
Yep, it's getting worse even though the rain has stopped for now... next band of storms due in a couple of hours.

City of Calgary just ordered evacuation of four communities within the city. Some people now at work may not be able to get home even to pick up documents and valuables if bridges are affected.
EDIT: as I typed this it was expanded to 6 communities and announced roads into the areas will be closed in 15 minutes (3 PM MDT)

RE-EDIT: now 10 communities now under mandatory evac order.
I went down near the river to check the markers. River's rising at the rate of 1 ft/hr.
Checking the City Flood Map I'm well above the 100-year marginal edge --- however they are now calling it a 1/200 flood and the map isn't as pretty.

View attachment 88978
View attachment 88979

View attachment 88980
Couldn't get further to take 3rd version of same pic. Very nice female police officer explained that on the road under the bridge water was over her knees. It was dry at 4:03.
Crest is expected about midnight - 6 hour to go. Ah well, who needs sleep?

More pics here: http://storify.com/WaterPortal/abfl...m_source=t.co&utm_campaign=&awesm=sfy.co_p9FJ
 
Daveroo said:
im not sure what the X's mean..but i got family in Lethbridge...makes me wonder if theyre ok?..
Click to expand...

Most of Lethbridge is up on high ground so if they are in the city they should be OK. The flooding has been in the Oldman River valley that flows through/around the city.. mostly parks, golf courses, a few homes & farms.

Here's the specific link which you can update
http://www.emergencyalert.alberta.ca/alerts/2013/06/1756.html
 
You stay dry Rob. If you like you can send some of that rain down here as some of the farmers are starting to get a little worried that their Spring/Summer crops may fail even though it is Winter here now.
 
City of 1.3 million - looks like 20% or more could be in evac mode by morning.

Military has sent two helicopters and a Herc or Buff into the area south of here to evacuate people in some of the towns.

Boundary of current ( 9:40 PM MDT) mandatory evac area is a block-and-a-half down the street so I may be sleeping my my own bed - if I sleep. I really hate late-night banging on the door. Most valuable stuff is up above ground and we're packed just in case. The cat is NOT impressed!

Ah well, a boring life is vastly over-rated.

BTW, if anyone is on Twitter, the good stuff can be found under #abflood - about 1000 tweets per hour.

Water level 2 days ago vs suppertime tonight:
View attachment 88985
 
Hey All,

Yeah I am watching this closely. My daughter a starving 21 year-old college student - who still finds a way to get out an party somehow just like I did years ago - lives in parkdale - SrGalahad that is downhill from the hospital near motel row and the saddledome. She is on evac alert- evacs are about 10 blocks away. Course she lives in a tiny basement suite/apartment. If things go south I suspect my wallet will hurt a bit but I guess that is life.

-Ed-

PS I wonder what Mike from Canmore would say? One of my favorite characters of all-time


Canmore is getting hammered as well.
 
Ed, she'll be ok. Parkdale is just east of me and they are dry. We are too but without power - shut off as adjacent areas are on evac (Bowness). Power may be off 12-72hrs. For perspective, pic of bridge two posts up- lower level roadway is now under 2 ft of water. Saddledome arena is now water up to 14th row of seats. Bow river is prob. 50x normal volume and 10 ft abv norm w/5ft standing waves in spots. So far no fatalities known in city an maybe 2-3 province wide. "Normal" is quite a way off.
Sent via Blackberry
 
Hey All,

Rob stay dry! My daughter is a girl guide leader in Bowness. It is pretty ugly out there. I gotta tell you I want to get in my X-terra and head for Calgary take charge and see my daughter through this - but at the end of the day she has to learn from this. I will give her all the advice I know but she needs to learn and I make myself stay put in Nanaimo. For me that is the hardest I can't take control not because I can't take the time or actually get there because I can but because she needs to learn. Letting go is hard but it has to happen and I know it. These incidents shape your life and I don't want to interfere with the lesson. I and my family were evacuated in front of a forest fire in 94. You never see the world the same again.

-Ed-
 
It's not getting any better and Calgary itself is under water. And I never knew but in Canada, insurance won't cover floods at all and federal money amounts to $200million. That's about enough to dry out the Saddle Dome.
 
Rob, I really feel for you. The floods have made the news in Australia for the last 3 days and it doesn't look good although I hear the water is starting to fall.
 
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