Mother Nature remains mega pissed off ~ roseanne, hope you and hubby are safe ~ please check in when you can ~ Sooz

Four feared dead in Canada as floods paralyze Calgary
By Reuters
Friday, June 21, 2013 19:00 EDT
By Nia Williams and Scott Haggett

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) – The heaviest floods in decades shut down the Canadian oil capital of Calgary on Friday, with an evacuation of the downtown core and tens of thousands of residents forced to leave their homes.

Police said four people may have died in the town of High River, located about 60 km (37 miles) south of Calgary, including a woman who was swept away with her camper and a man seen falling from a canoe in the swollen Highwood River.

Some 1,200 troops were helping with the evacuations.

“This is a tragic situation,” Alberta Premier Alison Redford said at a press conference. “I think in the circumstances the response has been incredibly effective but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t impacted. This is a natural disaster.”

Around 100,000 people of Calgary’s 1.1 million residents, were ordered to leave their homes, while smaller communities were evacuated elsewhere in the Western Canadian province.

By mid-afternoon, rivers had flooded roads and bridges, forcing many residents to flee by boat or helicopter.

Calgary officials said the downtown site of the Calgary Stampede rodeo was flooded, and water in the nearby Saddledome hockey arena was reportedly up to the fourteenth row of seats.

More than 100 millimeters (3.9 inches) of rain has fallen in some parts of southern Alberta in just two days, and forecasters say the rain won’t let up until Saturday.

“The flooding situation is very acute in the foothills and the mountains,” said Chris Scott, director of meteorology at The Weather Network, noting that 220 millimeters, nearly half a year’s worth of rain, had fallen in 36 hours near Canmore in the Canadian Rockies.

“Now all that water is rushing downstream and that’s why the situation is so bad in Calgary. This is an unprecedented flooding event.”

NORMALLY DRY

Alberta lies to the east of the Rockies, and many parts of the province are normally very dry.

But a stubborn area of high pressure in Alaska and northern Alberta has pulled a stream of moisture up into southern Alberta from the United States, causing the heavy rainfall.

Alberta’s oilfields lie to the north of the flooded areas, and energy output has not been affected. Provincial Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths said there was no threat to Alberta’s network of oil and natural gas pipelines.

Some agricultural areas were also flooded, and while crops will likely recover, they will be more vulnerable.

“Any organism that has got stress has lower immunity, so they’re going to be vulnerable to fungal diseases and insect pests,” said Neil Whatley, a crop specialist at the Alberta government.

Alberta produces the second-largest volumes of wheat and canola among Canadian provinces.

SWOLLEN RIVERS

Pictures showed trees and debris being swept down the swollen Bow River, which flows through central Calgary and which crested at around 1,500 cubic meters per second overnight, more than five times the normal flow rate for this time of year.

The TransCanada Highway, the country’s main east-west artery, was closed at Canmore after Cougar Creek burst its banks.

Flows on the Bow, and on the Elbow River which flows into it, were around three times as high as during the last serious Calgary floods in 2005, which caused an estimated C$400 million ($384 million) worth of damage.

No figures were available for damage from the latest floods.

In Calgary, mayor Nenshi urged people to stay at home. Schools were closed, as well as many offices in the downtown core, where lights were off and few people on the streets.

Suncor Energy Inc and Imperial Oil Ltd said staff in their Calgary headquarters had been told to stay at home. Shorcan Energy Brokers, which provides live prices for many Canadian crude grades, was trading out of Toronto on Friday rather than at its usual Calgary base.

Road closures on many of the city’s main roads caused traffic gridlock, prompting some to abandon their vehicles.

Despite warnings from the authorities to stay away from rivers, people congregated on those bridges that remained open over the Bow River to take pictures of the rising floodwaters. Trees and other debris floated in the churning river, which had in places burst its banks.

Calgary Zoo has a contingency plan to move its lions and tigers into holding cells in a Calgary jail if the flood waters threaten the animals’ quarters. Nenshi said that had not been needed yet.

($1=$1.04 Canadian)

(Additional reporting by Randall Palmer and Rod Nickel, additional writing by Cameron French; Editing by Janet Guttsman, Bernadette Baum and Peter Galloway)

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/21/four-feared-dead-in-canada-as-floods-paralyze-calgary/

We're fine. Thanks for asking. We live near the Bow River and Fish Creek, but both of them are down in a valley from here. VERY glad to see the sunshine today.

So, it looks like our downtown will be closed most of next week. Many power stations underwater. A few people are being allowed back to their homes, but along the Bow River it's a no go zone. They still don't know what it's going to do. Assessment to the infrastructure hasn't even begun.

I can't imagine how people are feeling today as reality sets in. We've been asked to curb our water usage until the treatment plants get up to speed. They shut them down yesterday as a precaution. No water boiling yet. That could still come.

Medicine Hat, south of here, is bracing for flooding and has evacuated a lot of people.

Sadly 3 people are confimed dead, another possible. As sad as that is, it's great that there weren't more, as fast as this all developed and because people heeded the evacuation orders.

Two weeks to Stampede and the grounds are flooded. The Saddledome, where the Flames play and where there are venues during Stampede has water up to the eight row. It's ruined. I can't imagine how they are going to pull this off. Although no one has said, I think many things were in process of being set up on the grounds already. I saw some pictures last week of the Lottery Home they have every year and it was on the grounds there, ready for tours. Many of the businesses, like downtown bars and such are ruined too. They look to Stampede week for a lot of their yearly revenue. Hotels all around the city are filled with refugees, who may still be there when the tourists arrive. I don't know what they will do about that.......

The city is in for a long recovery.

WOW, I hate to admit this but we have been so busy with projects around the house and land for the past three weeks that I haven't watched much TV at all and when I do it's not the news. Such flooding always seems to take much time to get back to normal if it ever does. So sorry to read this.

Roseanne, I am glad to hear you are ok though for sure inconvenienced...i have a fellow co-worker/friend who left last Wednesday for home (Calgary)....none of us have heard from her yet but will for sure be glad when we do!

Cannalee, I hope your friend didn't return to the devistated part of the city. I just watched some videos of people returning. It's heartbreaking.

An 83 yr old woman found dead in an evacuated area, with her cat by her side. Don't know why she was still there. A lawyer south of the city was killed after spending 24 hours helping neighbors. His ATV rolled over and he struck his head on the pavement. Father to 6, youngest only 2.

Good news. A call for volunteers to go into these areas with returning residents saw around 6,000 show up. Only about 800 could be used at the time. The small, local pockets of volunteers in each neighborhood is uplifting. One woman is gathering photos, trying to dry them and then will try to find the owners.

Bad news. It's going to be years for complete recovery in Calgary. High River will have to rebuild their entire city! It's a complete loss.

The devistation has disrupted not only the lives of those in the flooded areas, but those who work downtown from around the city. The much used transit disrupted. One leg will be closed for a long time since the tracks were lifted/twisted. I read somewhere that about 40% of our population works in the downtown area. Wow.

Just saw some video of the flooding still going on. Our best thoughts go to all those who've been hurt by this.

The number of volunteers showing up is great. I love that.

I am now on information overload. Those who are directly affected by this are probably still running on adrenaline, with the real impact holding off until later. Those of us who are watching it via video are stressed...at least I am and those I've talked to. I feel almost smothered, for want of a better word. I will be staying away from news/video footage for today. It's overwhelming.

Home Depot (among other stores): Charged $48 for cases of bottled water on Friday. That is illegal here during an emergency and they could be charged. Social media has people connecting about this and they've saved their receipts. Yesterday, the store apologized with a vague "it was a mistake" BS. The cashier knew it was wrong, the employee who entered it into the system for the scan knew it was wrong and someone up the line approved that.

Ahahahaha! Gotta love the spirit. Yesterday, the director of the Stampede said that it would go on, come hell or high water.

The official Tshirt of the 2013 Stampede says "Stampede. Hell or high water" Love it! Can't find it online yet, but we will be buying a couple.

Also, a graphic artist created a tshirt with a sort of modern, graphic picture of our Mayor in goggles and snorkle. The proceeds for those will go to the relief effort. Will probably buy that too.

Ok, found one. I hope they eventually come in other colors.



Here is one for the Mayor:

roseanne, if you post a link to where the tshirts can be bought, I'll contribute to the cause and add to my tshirt collection ~

Sooz

sooz, I'm not sure the "hell or high water" money is going to relief, but the Scuba Mayor one is going to the Red Cross. Here is that link:

http://badportraitproject.com/floodrelief.cfm

I'll try to find out about the other one.

Yes! The proceeds will go to the Red Cross:

http://store.calgarystampede.com/produc ... high-water

in the face of such horrible devastation the Canucks show their pluck! I am glad you and yours are ok Roseanne...still haven't heard news of L my friend, but would not be at all surprised if she ended up being one of the volunteers working--she is a Canadian through and through...