Two dead, woman missing in flood

Prime minister makes emergency trip to Calgary

CALGARY — Mounties say two bodies have been recovered and a woman remains unaccounted for in the Alberta floods.

The bodies were found in the Highwood River in the High River, Alta., area on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, a woman was swept away with her camper in the Longview area. She has not yet been located.

Premier Alison Redford called the flooding crisis an “absolutely tragic situation” as she went to see some of the devastation in southern Alberta.

“To watch this unfold over the past 24 hours and see the work that our first responders have done and any integration that has taken place in Calgary in communities right across southern Alberta, from Canmore to High River to Lethbridge overwhelmingly does speak to who we are as Albertans,” she told reporters Friday.

Redford said she’s pleased with the responses from all the emergency agencies and volunteers.

“Everyone has been on the job,” she said.

There have been no estimates of the potential damages.

About 1,200 soldiers were deployed Friday to assist.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an emergency visit to the province and pledged full support from the federal government.

Amid onrushing muddy torrents, survivors continued to be plucked from rooftops by helicopters and boat-borne rescuers.

As rising waters in some areas appeared to slow, authorities predicted the situation could get even worse for others, surpassing levels of 2005’s disastrous floods.

From the Crowsnest Pass in the south to Canmore to the north, states of emergency were declared in a dozen communities.

In Canmore, where an evacuation order was called despite floodwaters wiping out all access roads, the mayor was saddened by what he saw.

“I’ve lived here for 40 years, and I have never seen anything close to this scale of destruction,” John Borrowman told QMI Agency on Friday after touring the downtown. “It’s not over yet.”

Strong currents scythed away shoreline — in some places as much 50 metres — tearing away patios and balconies and uprooting hundreds of trees, some more than 100 feet high. Patio furniture, kids playhouses and a trampoline were seen cascading down swollen streams.

Okotoks residents who were forced out of their homes Thursday, however, are being advised they can return.

Sheep River slowly receded through the night, officials said.

LYLE ASPINALL QMI Agency Bow River flood waters fill East Village near downtown Calgary on Friday. Massive flood waters have ravaged southern Alberta recently. Two people are confirmed dead in the province and approximately 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes...