Much of Calgary, still awash in muddy floodwaters today as the morning sun glinted on empty office towers in an eerily quiet downtown, is expected to remain without power for days.
Crews are racing to pump water from substations and restore electricity to neighbourhoods, but repairs and necessary work to dry out, then test equipment inside power stations means the downtown area may be left in the dark until the middle of the week.
"When I came here this morning, when you looked down in this area, all you saw was darkness," CBC's Terry Reith said, standing above the former parking lot of the Calgary Curling Club, now submerged in the murky waters of the Bow River.
"Now you can start to see some of the damage and the impact of the water — up to the bumpers of cars," he said, showing an overhead view that also revealed an abandoned police cruiser.
At one point, water in the Saddledome arena, home of the Calgary Flames, was reported to have risen up to the 10th row of seats, causing millions of dollars in damage. The Calgary Stampede grounds were also flooded from the deluge that has claimed at least three lives in Alberta. The Stampede is scheduled to take place in just two weeks.
The worst of the rainy weather appears to be over for Calgary, however, and residents in the community of Discovery Ridge learned this morning that some were given the go-ahead to return to homes that are on higher ground.
It will nevertheless be a difficult weekend for people across southern Alberta.
Residents in southeastern regions of the province are now bracing for possible floods, particularly in the cities of Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, downstream from Calgary. Both cities are on guard and anticipating rain today.
David Sands, a spokesperson with the government of Alberta, said that 22 communities were still unders states of emergency as of this morning. Medicine Hat is under a flood warning, as is the city of Lethrbdige, Sands said.
Emergency crews continued to monitor river levels overnight, including those of the South Saskatchewan River in Medicine Hat. About 10,000 residents in low-lying areas were told Friday night that they should be out of their homes by this morning.
Confluence of factors led to flooding
No evacuations have been ordered in Lethbridge, but Alberta Emergency Services is expecting a number of bridges to be washed out. Travers Reservoir has been opened and historic high flows are now reported in the Little Bow River.
It is expected that all bridge crossings on Highways 522, 845, 25, Cameron Crossing at TWP RD 11-2, Peacock Crossing TWP RD 13-0, and the Sundial Crossing RR 19-5/20-0 will be washed out.
Officials are asking people to avoid the area, stay away from rivers, valleys and low-lying areas and move to high ground.
Flood warnings are in effect for streams in the South Saskatchewan, Red Deer, Bow and Oldman River basins.
Torrential rain last week — up to 200 millimetres in some places — as well as saturated ground and the local geography that encourages water to run downhill quickly were among a confluence of factors leading up to the devastation.
The RCMP say at least three people have died in the floodwaters. Their bodies were discovered in the Highwood River in the community of High River.
That community, just south of Calgary, was one of the hardest-hit areas. It is estimated half the people experienced flooding in their homes. Roads and bridges have been swamped, police have cut off access to most of the town and helicopters have been circling overhead. Cars lie submerged in water, abandoned, while backhoes work in vain to push water back from houses.
In Calgary, some of the 75,000 flood evacuees were holding out hope they might soon be allowed back into their homes.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, once a long-time Calgary resident, met with Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi to visit the Emergency Operation Centre on Friday.
View a map of the evacuated areas
"I never imagined we could have a flood of this magnitude in this country," he said.
"The magnitude is just extraordinary. It is stunning."
Nenshi said the downtown area was still without power and remained off limits. Most officials are not speculating how long it will take for evacuation orders to be lifted in the city. However, some say the downtown area will likely be off limits for another two to three days.
"In Calgary, it doesn't look like it has receded very much and in fact there is some danger that the Bow River, which is already extremely high, could rise a little bit more as more of this water works its way down from the mountains," Reith reported from Calgary.
Several substations that supply the downtown area were swamped. That water must be pumped and the equipment must be dried before the stations are fired up again.
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