[haloboy100]

So my city and half the province is currently under water.

This is the saddledome:
I've just been told that this picture is fake - the saddledome, like the rest of the core, has no power. However, the water is indeed that high - the first several rows are completely submerged.


This is the zoo:


This is one of the parks near the downtown:


and here's an image that has already become a tumblr meme:


100,000 evacuated, the army called in to high river and some of the adjoining towns. 3 confirmed deaths. The power is out in the city core where people are trapped in the appartment complexes.
Both the prime minister and the premier are in calgary right now. It's probably the only time in my life I've ever seen the prime officials from all three levels of government on TV in the same interview, let alone in my town. We had about 100mm of rainfall in about 48 hours.
I've seen some early estimates of damage at around $400 million. 350000 people aren't working today, a good number of them officials in the oil business. Who knows how much money that's costing the industry right now.

[An4ximandros]

 I wish all the people in Alberta good luck, it's a bad experience to live through a catastrophe like this. On the up side, that stadium looks like a kick ass swimming pool.

[haloboy100]

Well, if it wasn't for the fact that the water is dirty as hell and probably has sewage in it, sure.

On a related note, the local high school I used to attend has its back field completely filled up in a similar fashion. I frequently see people kayaking in it. Not sure what to think of that...

[watsisname]

That's a lot of water. :|  Stay safe up there!

[MP-Ryan]

Yeah, northeast Alberta got flooded last week, southern Alberta got flooded this week, and we're sitting here in Edmonton hoping we aren't next

[haloboy100]

We're used to disasterous amounts of snow, gorrammit. Not disasterous amounts of water.

[An4ximandros]

 But aren't they the same thing?

[yuezhi]

meh isn't Alberta a little late for the flood party?
There's also Germany and a lot of other places worldwide.

[haloboy100]

True, the whole world is experiencing flood issues. This isn't to say that Alberta's crisis is necessarily more important, though this is probably the largest natural disaster in our history.

But aren't they the same thing?

Snow doesn't overflow out of the rivers, wash away houses and cut the power.

[An4ximandros]

 Yeah. But Neuland's already got this handled. Canada's right in the thick of it.

True, the whole world is experiencing flood issues. This isn't to say that Alberta's crisis is necessarily more important, though this is probably the largest natural disaster in our history.

But aren't they the same thing?

Snow doesn't overflow out of the rivers, wash away houses and cut the power.

*Cough*

[haloboy100]

Yeah. But Neuland's already got this handled. Canada's right in the thick of it.

True, the whole world is experiencing flood issues. This isn't to say that Alberta's crisis is necessarily more important, though this is probably the largest natural disaster in our history.

But aren't they the same thing?

Snow doesn't overflow out of the rivers, wash away houses and cut the power.

*Cough*

The water equivalent of freezing rain, ice pellets and a little snow was double previous major ice storms.

In other words, not snow.

[yuezhi]

Snow doesn't overflow out of the rivers, wash away houses and cut the power.

I believe that's called an avalanche.

Oh and i bet your oil wells are flooded to, hey?

[haloboy100]

Yeah, but at least avalanches just happen once and then the trauma is over with. This flood's been going on for days.

Heheh, no, the oil isn't gathered in the calgary area. That's all up north. The oil business in calgary is all on the corporate side of things.

[MP-Ryan]

We're used to disasterous amounts of snow, gorrammit. Not disasterous amounts of water.

Dude, I grew up in BC.  Alberta does not get disastrous amounts of snow, ever... even Calgary's chinooks pale in comparison to the BC interior's regular snowfall.

Heheh, no, the oil isn't gathered in the calgary area. That's all up north. The oil business in calgary is all on the corporate side of things.

Not entirely true - there are a bunch of wells flooded out in the Turner valley and along highway 22, but it isn't a major production area anymore.

yuezhi - this is Alberta:  https://maps.google.ca/?ll=54.431713,-112.368164&spn=10.402709,28.410645&t=m&z=6

The area experiencing local flooding is all from Calgary to the south (pockets of flooding here and there).  Put another way, only about 1/6 of the total area of the province has any flooding within its boundaries.  The area where the main oil production occurs is from Edmonton to the northern end of the province - roughly about 3/5 of the provincial area.

[haloboy100]

We're used to disasterous amounts of snow, gorrammit. Not disasterous amounts of water.

Dude, I grew up in BC.  Alberta does not get disastrous amounts of snow, ever... even Calgary's chinooks pale in comparison to the BC interior's regular snowfall..

Well...of course. Chinooks are warm. It never snows during chinooks.

[deathfun]

Prairie flooding isn't exactly uncommon

However, seems like this one isn't just in Alberta. BC is getting their fair share of flooding as well
Who pissed off the water Gods? Or would this be considered the work of the Agriculture one...

[yuezhi]

^yo

gettin stoned while rednecks, euros and indis get swamped. Most make ark but so stoned man.

[NGTM-1R]

On a related note, the local high school I used to attend has its back field completely filled up in a similar fashion. I frequently see people kayaking in it. Not sure what to think of that...

I would buy a kayak if I could kayak through my high school. But then it's the only way I'd go back.

[Mongoose]

I just heard about this yesterday; it seems pretty nasty.  Was this a result of a series of deluges over a week or two, or just one big storm in a hurry?

[haloboy100]

It was over 100mm of water in 48 hours, mostly. There's some talk (mostly from trolls living in B.C.) about our irrigation system being the problem, but those claims are largely unsubstantiated.