Calgary Flood – Downtown Evacuation Ordered

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Calgary Mayor Nenshi
Calgary Mayor Nenshi
Calgary Mayor Nenshi
Calgary Mayor Nenshi

CALGARY – Flood conditions in Calgary and southern Alberta are not getting better yet. Officials in Calgary have ordered the evacuation of the downtown core of the city. Mayor Nenshi earlier asked people who did not have to go into work, or travel today to say home, or stay safe.

The first ten rows of seating in the Calgary Saddledome have been flooded. Flooding caused by high rainfall in the area has caused the Bow and Elbow Rivers in the city to rise to near record levels.

Calgary is currently closing roadways including reports that the Deerfoot Trail along the east side of the city is being closed to traffic.

The City of Calgary website has been hit hard with massive traffic volumes. 

Due to high traffic volumes, Calgary.ca is experiencing technical difficulties and has been redirected to calgarycitynews.com to enable emergency related messaging ONLY.

We are working on opening access to priority non-emergency related information and services on calgary.ca as soon as possible.

Flood Conditions across Alberta

High River – Full evacuation in order
  • Today 40 officers will conduct door to door checks of houses and locations;
  • RCMP officers and first responders will either use vehicles, boats or be dropped in by helicopters in order to complete the search.
Bragg Creek – Full evacuation in order – No road access
  • Today officers will conduct door to door checks of houses and locations;
  • RCMP officers and first responders will either be taken by boat or dropped in by helicopters in order to complete the search.
Canmore –  Partial evacuation – Shelter in place
  • Today officers will conduct door to door to check every houses / locations in order to ensure no one has remained behind;
  • RCMP officers and first responders will either use vehicles, boats or be dropped in by helicopters in order to complete the search;
  • Highway 1 is under water on both sides of Canmore;
 
Banff –  Isolated due to road closures both East and West
  • The Town of Banff is not under evacuation;
  • Highway 1 is under water on the Alberta side of Town;
  • There are localized mud slides on the West side of town.
Turner Valley – partially evacuated and Sour Gas (H2S) update 
  • 100 to 150 people are evacuated due to the sour gas leak;
  • The evacuation is a precautionary measure and relates to the sour gas breech;
  • Other residents are advised to stay indoors;
  • Officials advised that this leak is of a low risk to the public and to the environment; 
  • further information can be found at  http://www.emergencyalert.alberta.ca/alerts/2013/06/1783.html .
RCMP have requested four aircraft from the Department of National Defence.  Currently two helicopters have been deployed.
 
Two civilian helicopters as well as RCMP Helicopter and fixed wing airplane are being used at this time.
 
It is believed that so far there may be four casualties as a result of this incident in the High River area. 
  1. Yesterday two males were seen floating lifeless in the Highwood River in the High River area.  However, no bodies were located.
  2. Yesterday a female was swept away with her camper in the Longview area of the Highwood River.  She has not yet been located.
  3. Yesterday a male was observed falling from a canoe on the Highwood River in the High River area.  It is unknown if he was able to get back in the canoe.
RCMP officers work and live the affected communities and 13 officers and support staff have either lost their homes or have suffered significant property damage.  In many cases these employees were on duty and have not been able to attend to their homes as they were working to ensure public safety.
 
RCMP officers would like to caution the public, evacuees and citizens rendering assistance, to be very cautious near water and to call 911 if they see someone is in need of assistance.
 
Emergency Response
  • The RCMP is asking all citizens to help the authorities who are responding to this emergency by observing these restrictions:
    Do not drive to or near affected areas unless you are involved in the emergency response. Extra traffic will prevent the authorities from responding quickly. Pedestrians are asked to stay off all bridges. 
  • Do not use the phone unless you are requesting help or reporting an important event.
  • Unnecessary phone calls could overload the telephone system and limit the authorities’ ability to communicate.
More information can be found at the following websites:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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