Floods

[jaimiediamond]

Thought I would post some pictures of the flooding going on this affects most of Southern Alberta.  The rain fall in the last 24 hours beats the previous precipitation record from 1961!

http://www.calgaryherald.com/index.html

http://globalnews.ca/news/658883/high-river-declares-state-of-emergency-mandatory-evacuations-aided-by-army/

 

[justintime]

My heart ached when I saw tv coverage of the flooding in Southern Alberta. Scary stuff and I hope everyone is OK.Water in your basement is one thing, but entire houses floating down the river and roads and bridges completely washed out is another. Mother Nature is gone off her meds again, and she is a pretty grumpy mood. I hear there is much more rain in the forecast for Southern Alberta over the next few days so the worst may be yet to come. Be safe out there!

Where we live, we have received excellent rains but we are pretty well at the satuation point. Lots of standing water in the fields now, and for the moment we are in great shape. We were supposed to get some heavy down pours last night but missed them. In this country, we are never more than 2 weeks from drought so we are very thankful.

 

[GoWyo]

Please send it south of Montana.  We need a drink down here.

 

[frostback]

http://globalnews.ca/calgary/
Ever here of school cancelled for a rain day?

 

[justintime]

If only we could spread some of this rain around with those who need it!  I have been watching Calgary TV and can hardly comprehend the flood damage. The Calgary Stampede is only 2 weeks away, and the Stampede grounds are completely under feet of water... that is a roaring river, not just standing water. The Saddledome ( home of the Calgary Flames) has at least 10 feet of water in it. The water is up to the 12th row of seats and the dressing rooms and many other rooms are completely under water. The room where all the controls and wiring for the massive Jumbotron is also submerged and they think it will be completely destroyed. This water is heading east towards Saskatchewan, they are already evaculating some low communities along the rivers. The flow is expected to be at least 10-12 times higher than any time in the last 100 years. Kinda hard for me to get my head around.
There is much more rain in the forecast for the Southern Alberta area, so the worst may be yet to come. It is hard to even think of it getting any worse, when 100,000 people are out of their homes now.
Personally, I live about 550 miles east of Calgary, and we are at the saturation point now.It is raining again now and it is making some pretty good sized areas of standing water in the fields. I wish we could send some of this down south to frostback and other locals that need it.

I have some donor cows and a bull in stud near Calgary, and i was hoping to head that way later this week, but I think I will wait until this mess clears up some now!

 

[Doc]

I saw the pics of the Stampede grounds and it definitely had a river going thru it. This reminds me of here in Nashville, TN of May 2010 when we had our flood. We had 4' of water in our office and warehouse and lost everything. My thoughts and prayers are with those people.

 

[HAB]

My wife and I were just through the Calgary area 3 weeks ago.  Can't believe that much water running through.

We have dealt with flooding, but nothing like that.

 

[Okotoks]

Pretty devastating what many people are going through but this story made me smile

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/06/21/alberta-flood-cat-momo-swim-photos.html

and an article showing the Stampede Grounds less than two weeks from the startof the 101st event, the flooding is by far the worst ever by a large amount....
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2013/06/21/sp-calgary-flooding-sports-flames-stampede.html

 

[jaimiediamond]

Just another picture of the flooding taken by media. They are saying this is the worst flood of Canadian history. 

 

[vanridge]

Hope you guys are all okay over there! I am sure it will have a big impact on your pastures and crop lands! I hope that Saskatchewan can prevent a lot of damage when the water comes their way. Take care and stay safe!

 

[frostback]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Live+Gallery+Herald+photographers+capturing+stories/8571223/story.html
A few more photos, some just show the power of mother nature. I am fascinated by it myself. 

 

[Okotoks]

The latest crisis from the flood. A train bridge in Calgary is collapsing and the car's tankers are full of chemicals. Now they have closed the Deerfoot Traill so they can recheck that bridge. Jacqueline is just getting home from a night with Taskforce where they were pumping basements. The town of High River is totally evacuated still, all 15,000 people and much of the town will not be salvagable. Total rain west of High River in the watershed was 14.4 inches in a thirty hour time span. The system stalled over the watershed and did not move like it usually does. 

 

[justintime]

I heard the Alberta Premier say in an interview that it will take 25 years to complete fixing the devastation. When asked by a reporter about this, she said she firmly believes that it will take this long to complete everything. There are some other places that are having severe flooding as well. Southern North Dakota, around the Gwinner- Lisbon area received 8 inches in a day last week. I have heard that Virden Manitoba had 7 inches followed by 4 more inches two days later. Where I live it is wet, but we now have had 12 inches in June, which is more than our annual average precipation. There are areas close to here that have now passed 20 inches in June. Our pastures and hay are doing great, but it is going to be fun haying, as there is standing water all over the fields. Going to start cutting today or tomorrow.

 

[SeannyT]

I was in Banff when all of the rain/flooding/washouts began. The whole town was isolated due to mudslides and washouts. When you think of places you'd choose to be stranded in if the situation came up, Banff would probably be one of them. Unfortunately it rained the whole time so I couldn't enjoy much of the scenery. It was a little scary thinking of the disaster occurring just minutes down the highway to the east. We actually ended up driving 6 hours west to Kelowna just to be able to catch a flight back to Manitoba!

AND to add to this, western Manitoba is now experiencing flash flooding with around 9-10 inches of rain in some towns over 2 storms. I hope I didn't bring it west with me. I also hope these are not going to become a common occurrence as the trend appears to be unfolding.