‘A whole lot more’: Calgary braces for second day of heavy rainfall

Keep the umbrellas handy and the raincoat nearby as the rain for Tuesday is here to stay.

Overnight, total rain levels reached 26 millimetres near the Calgary International Airport, 40 mm at Canada Olympic Park, 47 mm in Springbank and 52 mm in Priddis. Meanwhile, a Kananaskis Country volunteer rain station reported rain levels at 112 mm.

Outside of the Stampede city, Claresholm had 47 mm of rain, Pincher Creek had 49 mm, and Crowsnest Pass had about 64 mm.

On Monday afternoon, Mayor Jyoti Gondek declared a state of local emergency out of precaution. Doing so gives local emergency services the ability to go door to door to inform people they could be evacuated and access properties if necessary.

The state of emergency will be in place for two weeks, and can be renewed if need be.

“The system continues to wrap counterclockwise, pushing steady — and at times heavy — moisture back into Alberta,” said Tiffany Lizée, Global News Calgary chief meteorologist.

“Calgary could see another 30-40 mm throughout Tuesday and another 80-100+ mm is expected along the foothills. Luckily, the moisture continues to fall as snow at higher elevations in the Rockies, which means a slower melt and smaller chance of severe flooding,” Lizée said.

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“A whole lot more rain throughout the day not only in Calgary but expect it in the west as well.”

Environment Canada said the heaviest rain will fall to the west and will likely happen during the day. The rain is expected to taper off throughout the day on Wednesday.

The heaviest rain will fall during the day on Tuesday. Rainfall will taper off through the day Wednesday.

On the bright side, Lizée added the rainfall has helped pollen levels drop, as they’ve been at a high to a very high level for the past several weeks.

“Although this system will be fairly stationary on Tuesday, we’re expecting it to push east on Wednesday, finally giving the province a break,” Lizée said.

“However, we’ll continue to watch river levels very closely for the rest of the week as fresh snow in the mountains begins to melt.”

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