23 June 2013
Calgary
23/06/13 06:09
This week I was planning to talk about odd things, how KXAN in Austin Texas cut away from the overtime of one of the Stanley Cup Finals games so they could run a promo for their morning news show and so missed the winning goal. http://mashable.com/2013/06/20/tv-station-facebook-stanley-cup-goal/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Product-RSS-Pheedo-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner. Or on the retirement of the 45 year old planetarium projector at the Vancouver Planetarium. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/17/bc-harold-retires-projector-macmillan-space-centre.html Or even the appearance off the coast of an exceedingly rare Right Whale. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/20/bc-right-whale-haida-gwaii.html And of course I was going to mention Jocelyn’s visit and how Saturday morning both her and Marsha got on a plane to head back to Minnesota.
But late in the week a far bigger story appeared. Flooding. Many of you may have heard by now that Calgary was hit by severe flooding late in the week. It was from a storm that swept in and gained strength as it hit land. Fortunately on the Island we only got a couple of soggy days. East of us they got massive amounts of rain. First it was in the mountains, the Kootenays were especially hard hit. Major highways were closed due to either flooding or mudslides. Homes were evacuated and such it was a mess. That area has begun to return to normal but it will be some weeks before it’s all cleaned up again. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/21/bc-flooding-closures.html and http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/22/bc-floods-easing-elk-valley-sparwood-alert.html .
Calgary Alberta is a different story. They aren’t in the mountains. They are out on the plains. However the two rivers that run through town, the Bow River and the Elbow River, (Oh no that isn’t in any way confusing at all) come right out of the Rockies. There are numerous reports of over 100mm of rain in Calgary and in the mountains. This was a warm rain and it landed on, and melted, a large portion of the snowpack, which added to the volume of water flowing out of the mountains. It was a classic flash flood. Now Calgary has been flooded before. In 2005 for example, but in that year they got this much water over 28 days so it built up. they had time to prepare. This time it all fell in 28 hours and the results were devastating. Their was no time to get sandbags, or drain reservours, or anything like that. Downtown is flooded. The Saddle Dome, where the Flames play, was flooded up to the Box seats. The manager for the team said that it’s a total loss. All equipment, from hockey gear, to the Zamboni, to the heating and electrical equipment, to the seats will have to be ripped out and replaced. They are just going to have to gut it out to the structure and, assuming the building itself wasn’t damaged, replace everything. The Saddle Dome is on the grounds where they hold the Calgary Stampede, which is scheduled to start in less than two weeks. They are saying the show will go on but for the life of me I don’t see how. Even if they do somehow dry out the grounds and get the power back on, the hotels will be needed for thousands of locals whose houses are uninhabitable. I understand that it’s a major event in the year and many businesses rely on it for a big part of their sales, but seriously, skip the party. There’s work to do.
The cleanup has started though. This morning they reported that power had been restored in Banff and Lake Louise, up the hill from Calgary.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/06/23/alberta-flooding-banff-lake-louise-transformer-power-returns.html Most of the evacuation orders have been lifted, though how many will find a habitable home to go back to is another question entirely. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/23/calgary-water-receding-flood-cleanup-w.html The cleanup is beginning. Alberta is not out of the woods though. The surge is progressing downstream and Medicine Hat is the next town preparing for too much water.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/23/alberta-floods-sunday.html At least they’ve had some warning.
PIX: An eagle that was having a screaming fit in a nearby tree. The thunderstorm we got a few days back, this was all we saw of the storm that nailed the mountains east of us and eventually Calgary. A clear summer sunrise after the storm.
But late in the week a far bigger story appeared. Flooding. Many of you may have heard by now that Calgary was hit by severe flooding late in the week. It was from a storm that swept in and gained strength as it hit land. Fortunately on the Island we only got a couple of soggy days. East of us they got massive amounts of rain. First it was in the mountains, the Kootenays were especially hard hit. Major highways were closed due to either flooding or mudslides. Homes were evacuated and such it was a mess. That area has begun to return to normal but it will be some weeks before it’s all cleaned up again. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/21/bc-flooding-closures.html and http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/22/bc-floods-easing-elk-valley-sparwood-alert.html .
Calgary Alberta is a different story. They aren’t in the mountains. They are out on the plains. However the two rivers that run through town, the Bow River and the Elbow River, (Oh no that isn’t in any way confusing at all) come right out of the Rockies. There are numerous reports of over 100mm of rain in Calgary and in the mountains. This was a warm rain and it landed on, and melted, a large portion of the snowpack, which added to the volume of water flowing out of the mountains. It was a classic flash flood. Now Calgary has been flooded before. In 2005 for example, but in that year they got this much water over 28 days so it built up. they had time to prepare. This time it all fell in 28 hours and the results were devastating. Their was no time to get sandbags, or drain reservours, or anything like that. Downtown is flooded. The Saddle Dome, where the Flames play, was flooded up to the Box seats. The manager for the team said that it’s a total loss. All equipment, from hockey gear, to the Zamboni, to the heating and electrical equipment, to the seats will have to be ripped out and replaced. They are just going to have to gut it out to the structure and, assuming the building itself wasn’t damaged, replace everything. The Saddle Dome is on the grounds where they hold the Calgary Stampede, which is scheduled to start in less than two weeks. They are saying the show will go on but for the life of me I don’t see how. Even if they do somehow dry out the grounds and get the power back on, the hotels will be needed for thousands of locals whose houses are uninhabitable. I understand that it’s a major event in the year and many businesses rely on it for a big part of their sales, but seriously, skip the party. There’s work to do.
The cleanup has started though. This morning they reported that power had been restored in Banff and Lake Louise, up the hill from Calgary.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/06/23/alberta-flooding-banff-lake-louise-transformer-power-returns.html Most of the evacuation orders have been lifted, though how many will find a habitable home to go back to is another question entirely. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/23/calgary-water-receding-flood-cleanup-w.html The cleanup is beginning. Alberta is not out of the woods though. The surge is progressing downstream and Medicine Hat is the next town preparing for too much water.http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/06/23/alberta-floods-sunday.html At least they’ve had some warning.
PIX: An eagle that was having a screaming fit in a nearby tree. The thunderstorm we got a few days back, this was all we saw of the storm that nailed the mountains east of us and eventually Calgary. A clear summer sunrise after the storm.