Some streets are flooding in Canmore, but it’s nothing like 2013: experts

Banff and Canmore are also feeling the effects of heavy rainfall. The area is not under a flood watch, but some Canmore streets are flooded.

While water is spilling onto streets in downtown Canmore, experts say the mountain town isn’t expecting flooding similar to what it saw in 2013.

John Pomeroy, a University of Saskatchewan professor and director of Global Water Futures Observatories, is based in Canmore, and he and his team monitor water levels year-round.

Speaking to CTV News on Monday, Pomeroy said while river flow is high for this time of year, it’s not a “major flood” at this point.

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“The river levels continue to rise in the Bow River system and elsewhere throughout the province,” Pomeroy said. “The snow melt is pretty well slowed down and finished … The increase in flow we’re seeing now is due to rainfall.”

“The rainfall has been very intense. We’ve measured as much as 85 millimetres of precipitation in the last couple of days at some of the high-elevation stations, and it’s continued to increase flow on the Bow River – not so much at Banff; that’s levelled off at 300 cubic metres per second – but downstream it has picked up to 400 cubic metres per second towards Seebee. That’s what’s heading to Calgary, but it’s still 1,000 cubic metres per second less than what was happening in 2013.

“So, this is a high flow, but not a disastrous flow.”

Pomeroy says low-lying areas in Canmore are being impacted by the rain and high river levels, including some streets in downtown Canmore, which are starting to flood.

Rivers not disastrous, but ground water levels are high

“There are berms that protect the town from overland flooding, but not from subsurface flooding, so we’re seeing that show up in Spring Creek and Policeman’s Creek, with really high levels.”

“A number of people are pumping out their sub-basements onto the streets to keep things dry, and there might be a few basements flooded as well, so the ground water levels in Canmore are almost as high as they were in 2013.”

Caitlin Miller, director of emergency management for the Town of Canmore, says the area does have a high water table.

“Our groundwater levels, when they go up, they do impact people’s basements,” she said. “They do also impact some of the roadways in town.”

“Those are all normal things when we have a rainfall event, so we just really encourage people to check their sump pumps, check their basements and check on their neighbours as well.”

She echoed Pomeroy’s statement that the current situation is a bit different than 2013.

“We do have some snow up on the mountains right now, which helps because when the snow comes down, that means the precipitation takes a little bit longer to get to the valley bottom,” Miller explained.

“We also have the debris retention structure on Cougar Creek now, so we’re well mitigated against potential flooding over there – and we hadn’t received all of the rain at once. In 2013, it was a really heavy and intense rainfall.

“The rainfall here started off pretty light. This morning was probably the worst of it and the heaviest, most intense, but it didn’t happen all at once; we’ve been experiencing about 10 to 20 millimeters a day.

“I think we’ve gotten about 47 millimeters up top on Cougar Creek and less than that in town at the valley.

Miller stressed that a lot of organizations are working together right now to monitor the situation and ensure officials are well prepared if the situation worsens.

“Everyone should download Voyent Alert if they haven’t already, so that they get the emergency alerts if anything changes, and should continue to check on their neighbours and be careful around the standing water on roadways.”