Downtown Calgary partially evacuated

CALGARY — Some residents of downtown Calgary were ordered out Friday, joining as many as 100,000 others forced from their homes in the disastrous flooding that swept through Alberta’s biggest city.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi warned Friday the worst was yet to come in what is expected to be the city’s most devastating flood in decades.

The waters of Bow River continued to rise. The Elbow River was already believed to have reached its peak.

“I have never seen the Bow River that high and that fast ... I was here in (the floods of) 2005 and this is no comparison,” Nenshi said.

Evolving evacuation orders began with about 7,000 residents in low-lying areas Thursday afternoon as torrential rain hammered the city.

On Friday, crews downtown went building-to-building to assess the damage and those that didn’t need to be evacuated were deemed safe for residents, who were told to stay put.

City officials asked residents to find shelter with family or friends for at least the next 72 hours.

Fire Chief Bruce Burrell said the volume of water headed toward the city could be triple that seen in the floods of 2005.

Water services director Dan Limacher said water flows are nine times higher than is typical for a high-flow day in June.

Meanwhile, Calgary Zoo officials scrambled to make sure the animals were on dry ground, including the possibility of moving the zoo’s big cats into cells in the lower levels of the courthouse.