Calgary, AB,
21
June
2013
|
15:24
America/Denver
State of Local Emergency - Update
The City of Calgary Newsroom
State of Local Emergency - Update
The City of Calgary remains in a state of local emergency due to significant flooding.
Mandatory evacuations remain in place for portions of several communities. The downtown core between 9 Avenue and the river from Macdonald Bridge to 14 Street W will be closed as of 5 pm Friday. There will be local traffic allowed only.
Enmax is working in conjunction with the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) to restore power to affected areas when it is safe to do so.
A number of reception centres for evacuees have been set up at:
- Acadia Recreation Complex, 240 90 Ave. SE
- Village Square Leisure Centre, 2623 56 St. NE
- South Fish Creek Recreation Complex, 100 333 Shawville Blvd. SE
- Central Memorial High School, 5111 21 St. SW
- William Aberhart High School, 3009 Morley Tr. NW
- St. Francis High School, 877 Northmount Dr. NW
- Southland Leisure Centre, 2000 Southland Dr. SW
- Centre Street Church, 3900 2 St. NE. This is a registration facility only, no overnight accommodation is provided at this facility.
The Canadian Red Cross has established a phone number to assist Calgarians with connecting to family members who have been displaced. Contact the Red Cross at: 1-866-696-6484.
The quality of drinking water remains very high.
The City is asking residents to limit water use, wherever possible in order to reduce their demand on drinking water treatment plants.
The very high river flows have resulted in high levels of silt and debris in the water coming into The City’s drinking water treatment plants. This silt is starting to slow down the treatment process, creating a growing load on the filtration processes. As a result, it is taking longer to treat the incoming water with presents a challenge to meet water demand.
The drinking water quality remains very high, and any help that Calgarians can provide by reducing the amount of water to be treated will help ensure that this quality can be met going forward.
The City asks that Calgarians limit water use as much as possible by following a few simple steps:
- Limit showers to five minutes and keep baths shallow
- Use washing machines and dishwashers only when absolutely necessary and only with full loads
- Turn off taps when brushing teeth or shaving
- Reduce toilet flushing
All Calgarians are asked to refrain from non-essential travel. Many roads, bridges and pathways around the city are closed or limited due to flooding.
At this time our bridges remain stable as they’ve been built on bedrock. The City has a high degree of confidence in the structural integrity of city bridges. Once the waters recede all city bridges will undergo a comprehensive engineering evaluation.
Staff at the Calgary Zoo have moved as many animals as possible to secure locations within the zoo. Two zebras have been moved to the zoo’s Wildlife Conservation Centre south of the city. All other animals remain at the zoo as of noon on Friday.
The Calgary Zoo will be closed for at least Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The City is asking all citizens to help the authorities who are responding to this emergency by observing these restrictions:
- Do not drive to or near affected areas unless you are involved in the emergency response. Extra traffic will prevent the authorities from responding quickly.
- Pedestrians are asked to stay off all bridges.
- Do not use the phone unless you are requesting help or reporting an important event. Unnecessary phone calls could overload the telephone system and limit the authorities' ability to communicate.
Call 311 for flood-related calls only. Call 911 in case of emergency.