Mayor says worst yet to come as large swaths of Calgary become watery ghost town

By Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press:

Submerged cars sits in the flood waters in High River, Alta. on June 20, 2013 after the Highwood River overflowed its banks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan Verlage

CALGARY - Calgary's mayor is warning that the worst of the flooding is yet to come after a significant portion of his city's population spent the night pulling back to higher ground.
"I grew up here. I spent a lot of time on the Bow and Elbow Rivers and I have never seen the river that high or that fast," Naheed Nenshi said at a news conference early Friday morning.
Heavy rains eight years ago caused flood damage to about 40,000 Calgary homes and resulted in the evacuation of more than 1,500 Calgarians. It resulted in $275 million in insured losses.
Nenshi said this is worse.
"The Bow River, when I saw it, looked like you were looking at an ocean. And I was there standing on that same bridge in 2005 and this is no comparison."...Continue reading...

Photos: Astonishing photos from the Alberta floods

A man is trapped after his truck was submerged in flood waters in High River on Thursday June 20, 2013.

Photograph by: Gavin Young, Calgary Herald Photos here.