Alberta flood levels wash away record from 100-year event 8 years ago

EDMONTON – Alberta’s floods are already breaking records that were set less than 10 years ago.

University of Alberta hydrologist Uldis (OOL’-diss) Silins (SIH’-lins) says flow levels in southern Alberta rivers submerged all records by a wide margin Thursday.

He says the Elbow River near Bragg Creek was 66 per cent higher than it was in the 2005 flood, which was considered a 100-year event in many places in that watershed.

Silins says the torrents are the result of a weather system that’s moving slowly, covering a wide area and releasing an unusually large amount of rain — up to 180 millimetres over 16 hours in some areas.

That’s so much rain that soils on the eastern slopes of the Rockies can’t soak it up.

Silins says large areas that usually absorb water are now adding to the runoff.