FLOODS

The super flood that washed across the southern quarter of Alberta and heaved through downtown Calgary, shown here at Stampede Park, in June 2013 caused an estimated $6 billion in damages and displaced about 100,000 people. Water filled Stampede Park’s Saddledome stadium up to the 10th row, more than two dozen towns in the province declared states of emergency and four people died. The spring melting of an exceptionally heavy snowpack in the Rockies soaked southern Alberta’s watersheds, while three days of torrential rainfall exacerbated the problem. Seasonal flooding is a natural phenomenon that occurs across the country, but changing precipitation patterns and rising sea levels mean devastating floods such as this are becoming more common.