Heavy rains have contributed to flooding in parts of the Canadian province of Alberta, where officials said Friday that about 75,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Swollen waterways burst banks, streets were flooded and in at least once instance the wreckage of a house was swept away by raging waters in the Bragg Creek area.
Heavy rain fell in the past 48 hours, in some places as much as normally falls in six months in the affected area in southern Alberta. In Calgary, the Bow River was described by the mayor, Naheed Nenshi, as looking “lik an ocean,†while the Elbow River is spilling over the top of a dam near the city.
There were power outages, road closings and mandatory evacuations, and officials said they have not even started to assess the extent of the damage to property owners.
A reporter on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said CBC staff members have been ordered to evacuate their Calgary studios.
