Calgarians are being warned about heavy rainfall and flooded roadways amid an Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) rainfall warning.
An ECCC weather advisory issued Monday says Calgary can expect anywhere from 50 to 100 millimetres of rain, with rainfall amounts in excess of 100 millimetres possible in certain areas.
ECCC says rain in Calgary will become lighter starting Tuesday evening. The agency is warning drivers to watch for water pooling on roads and avoid driving through flooded roadways.
University of Saskatchewan hydrologist John Pomeroy says, while there’s still uncertainty around the rainfall, including how intense it will be and where it will land, it won’t reach levels seen in the 2013 Alberta flood.
“We’ll have high flows, but nothing like 2013,” Pomeroy told The Calgary Eyeopener Monday morning.
Pomeroy, who is based in Canmore, said in addition to the Bow River in Calgary, “very high flows” are starting to come through the Oldman River drainage basin near the U.S. border, and also up into the Battle River basin, between Calgary and Edmonton.
He said while current river flows are high for this time of year, with the Bow River in Calgary at 400 cubic metres per second compared to the normal flow rate of 150 cubic metres per second, this is significantly less than the flood year of 2013, when flow rates in the river were around 1,500 to 1,600 cubic metres per second.
The Calgary Fire Department has issued a boating advisory for the Bow River, meaning people should stay off the river until flow rates return to safer levels.