[Mongoose]

Huh...I wouldn't expect that amount of rain to cause something that catastrophic, at least in my experience.  I mean that's a pretty good chunk for 48 hours, but I'm used to associating that level of damage with something like 200 mm over 24 hours, or something else that outrageously high.

[haloboy100]

Huh...I wouldn't expect that amount of rain to cause something that catastrophic, at least in my experience.  I mean that's a pretty good chunk for 48 hours, but I'm used to associating that level of damage with something like 200 mm over 24 hours, or something else that outrageously high.

True, but like I said, we're not used to rainfall. This is something like a quarter to half of our annual precipitation.

[Mongoose]

...oh.  That's certainly a different story then.  Ouch.

[watsisname]

Some areas did get close to 200mm over 24 hours.  But the problem is not so much the amount of rain, but that it was over a very large area which happens to be a single river basin.  So once all that water went into the rivers... oof. :/

Wunderground's weather historian has a good brief blog article on it here.

[haloboy100]

I also forgot to mention that we just finished a brand new bridge somewhere in the core, and it got completely swept away by the water.
This isn't it, but still a good laugh. Calgary's spirit is pretty flared up right now:


The rain has finally stopped, but they say it's going to be until the middle of the week before recovery work can even be considered. School has been cancelled for me until wednesday. They mayor just announced that about 65,000 people will be allowed to return to their homes, so that's good news.

[MP-Ryan]

Some areas did get close to 200mm over 24 hours.  But the problem is not so much the amount of rain, but that it was over a very large area which happens to be a single river basin.  So once all that water went into the rivers... oof. :/

Wunderground's weather historian has a good brief blog article on it here.

Exactly this.

Alberta's a bit of a strange place.  Virtually all the river and stream systems begin and consolidate into major rivers either in the Rockies, or nearby in the immediate foothills.  Meanwhile, most of the population centers are located 100+ km from the main foothills, so by the time the rivers reach the population centers, the basins have all drained to single rivers which carry water from hundreds of square kilometers down a single river channel.

Alberta really only has a few main river systems:
-The Old Man (flooding Lethebridge and Medicine Hat)
-The Bow (flooded Canmore and Calgary, contributing to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat)
-The Red Deer (high but not flooding, also dam controlled)
-The North Saskatchewan (currently high but not flooding in Edmonton)
-The Athabasca (flooded Fort McMurray two weeks ago)
-The Peace (no flooding at present)

There are other rivers in the province obviously, but virtually all of them consolidate into these drainage systems and do so before they pass through the population centers.  Calgary and the other southern cities are very susceptible to flooding - though part of the reason why there is such a mess in Calgary and High River is because the municipalities stupidly allowed construction within the 50- and 100-year flood plains.  That's not a uniquely-Alberta phenomenon, but it's moronic wherever its practiced.

[Nakura]

That's an insane amount of water. And here I thought the potential flood (and subsequent tornado) in Missouri was bad a few weeks back. Stay safe haloboy!

Why is the bus driving into the water?

[haloboy100]

Thanks. but fortunately for me I actually live 5 minutes outside of town, in a lake community that is not experiencing affects of the flooding due to an exstensive water control system on the river connecting here to the bow (its a man-made lake that acts as the water resoviour to all the local farmers east of Calgary). There have been talks of our drinking water being cut in order to help the more severely affected communities in Calgary, but so far that hasn't happened. I'm lucky.

As for the bus, I have no idea. I find that picture to be pretty badass, and some friends have showed me meme macros of it they found on tumblr. I'd show you them if I knew where they found them.