Flood threat prompts Calgary evacuation

CALGARY, Canada – Authorities have ordered the evacuation of central Calgary as flooding has left swathes of the city underwater.

CALGARY, Canada – 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.

Two bodies have been recovered near the town of High River, about 40 miles (64km) south of Calgary. At least one other person is reported to be missing.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised federal assistance, and toured flood-damaged areas on Friday.

“This is incredible,” said Mr Harper, a Calgary resident. “I don’t think any of us have seen anything like this before. The magnitude is just extraordinary.”

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 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.

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.

Police have advised people against traveling to the city center. 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 said that 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.”

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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