Heavy rainfall that caused serious flooding across Southern Alberta continues to challenge the area, particularly in Calgary, where the Bow and Elbow Rivers both overtopped their banks. Roads and bridges were washed away; notably, the Trans-Canada Highway was damaged by mudslides west of Calgary. As of June 28, power has been restored to much of Calgary, and the Trans-Canada Highway has been repaired west of Calgary.

However, reports from modelling firm AIR Worldwide, state that many buildings in the affected area still have flooded basements, and clean-up efforts are anticipated to continue for some time.

The torrential rain that started on the 19th June and continued through to the 21st June forced 75,000 residents of Calgary to evacuate. Some three days later, 27 communities in Alberta were under a state of emergency.

“Across Southern Alberta, two days of severe thunderstorms and heavy rain caused major flooding,” said Dr. Tim Doggett, senior principal scientist at AIR. “These floods have been particularly severe because the ground was already saturated, as the spring in Southern Alberta has been unusually wet. In addition, in some locations, soils just 50 cm below the surface had not yet thawed, forcing the rainfall to flow downhill and enter rivers and streams rather than soaking into the ground.”

By June 24, the floodwaters in Calgary had receded, permitting people to return to their homes.

While many bridges in Southern Alberta were damaged by the flooding, the city of Calgary had conducted stability checks on all pedestrian and traffic bridges in the city, including the Bonnybrook Bridge.

Sections of the Canada Pacific Railway, which run near the bank of the Bow River in downtown Calgary, were damaged and remain closed as of June 28. Repairs are underway on other segments of the railway, including the lines extending west and south of the city.

Gregory W Solecki, business continuity and recovery manager at the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, commented: “It has been the longest EOC activation and the longest state of local emergency in the history of Calgary. All the years of exercising theories on holistic Emergency Management, Emergency Operations Centre process, and the Emergency Management model worked. We were able to protect our citizens, minimise damage and reopen our City within seven days of the worst flood in more than 100 years.”

Read Gregory Solecki's June 2013 feature on emergency management

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