Overland flooding not expected in Calgary, say officials

Crews are keeping an eye on the water levels in Calgary as more rain is expected to fall in the city this week.

Rainfall warnings are still in effect for areas in the south end of Alberta, butdo not includeCalgary. Officials say the cityis not expecting any significant rainfall.

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• River Flood Mitigation Program
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"Our river monitoring group is right on top of the situation, right on top of forecasts and we are assessing forecasts on a four- to six-hour basis right now," saidRick Valdarchi, the program manager for the city's River Flood Mitigation Program.

Pathway underpasses on the Elbow River are closed and theGlenmoreReservoir is closed for recreational use.

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Valdarchi says crews continue to release water from the reservoirto make room in case Calgary does get a lot of rain.

"What we're trying to do is buffer these events as they come into the region. So as we do get precipitation and we do get flows increasing upstream of the reservoir, the space allows us to moderate that downstream flow."

Valdarchi expects the level of the Elbow will come up even further today, but will still be atlevels much lower than during last year's flood.

The seasonal norm for the Elbow River below the Glenmore Reservoir is 30 to 90 cubic metres per second (m/s). During last years flood, the Elbow River below the reservoir peaked at 700 m/s.

High River update

High River residents havebeen anxiously watching the water.

On Tuesday morning, town officials saidriver forecasters are expecting a total of 70 millimetres of rain by Wednesday evening, which would result in a 1.2 metre rise in river levels with a 215m/s flow rate.

"With this flow rate it is only the neighbourhood of Wallaceville that is in any danger of seeing low level flooding and Wallaceville area residents have been notified accordingly. The rest of the town is protected by berms, dikes and other flood mitigation methods to at least 1200m/s," officials said in a press release.