Another Canadian city at risk of river burst as floods ravage area

By Melissa Gray and Faith Karimi, CNN
updated 2:53 AM EDT, Sun June 23, 2013

The grounds of the 17,000-seat Saddledome, home to the NHL Calgary Flames, remain underwater on Saturday, June 22, in Calgary, Alberta. Much of the city is still submerged from Friday's flooding, which was the heaviest flooding the city had seen in decades and took at least three lives. In another city in Alberta, Medicine Hat, thousands of people were evacuated in anticipation of water from the South Saskatchewan River moving into the city Sunday.
Canadian Armed Forces soldiers from the Calgary Highlanders pile sandbags to protect the Inglewood neighborhood in Calgary on June 22.
Residents move to higher ground and watch the waters on June 22.
A house is submerged by floodwater at a park near the Bow River in Calgary on June 22.
Bearspaw Dam opens the gates to release water into the flooded Bow River on June 22.
A man longboards through a flooded downtown street in Calgary on Friday, June 21.
Streets in downtown Calgary are empty except for water after the area was evacuated.
A woman walks toward an abandoned and partially submerged police car in Calgary's Sunnyside neighborhood on June 21.
A man stands on a railing under Calgary's Centre Street Bridge as floodwater flows in the background on June 21.
Floodwater swirls as a street stands empty during the mandatory evacuation on June 21.
A wide view shows the flooded streets in Calgary's Sunnyside neighborhood on June 21.
A car sits on a flooded street in Calgary on June 21.
Residents watch as floodwaters from Cougar Creek destroy a neighborhood in Canmore, Alberta, on Thursday, June 20.
The waters of Cougar Creek expand through a neighborhood in Canmore, west of Calgary, on June 20.
A police car patrols a flooded Calgary neighborhood that was evacuated on June 20.
A man carries his dog to safety in High River, Alberta, on June 20.
Cougar Creek washes out roads in Canmore on June 20.


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Flooding has killed at least three people, police say
  • Officials deliver evacuation notices in Medicine Hat city
  • They shut down bridges and roads, and turn off gas in homes and businesses
  • Much of Calgary is still submerged


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(CNN) -- As waters receded in some parts of Canada's southern Alberta province, yet another city evacuated residents and lined up sandbags, waiting for a river to burst its banks.
The city of Medicine Hat cast a wary eye on South Saskatchewan River, which is set to burst its banks early Sunday. City Hall was lined with sandbags.
Officials delivered evacuation notices in the town, shut down bridges and roads, and turned off gas in homes and businesses.
The extensive flooding that has deluged towns and threatened southern Alberta communities has killed at least three people, officials said. The victims were all found in the Highwood River, about 40 miles south of Calgary, police said.
River levels were down in some affected areas Saturday, but remained high water in others.
In Medicine Hat, officials predicted water would spill over the banks early Sunday morning and keep rising until it crests Monday morning.
About 10,000 people in Medicine Hat, population 62,000, were evacuated ahead of the flooding. City spokesman Brandy Calvert said officials expect the flood to eclipse one they had in 1995, their biggest on record.
"We don't want to anticipate the worst, but we're going to be prepared for the worst," Alberta Premier Alison Redford said. "We know that from what we've seen everywhere else that this is more exceptional than we've ever seen in Alberta before, so we're presuming that that's probably the circumstance that we're looking at (in Medicine Hat) as well."
Calgary was still covered in water days after the Bow and Elbow rivers overflowed. The city was under a state of emergency Saturday, but Mayor Naheed Nenshi said the flow of the water was slowing and some people could start returning home.

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