CALGARY- Thousands of people have been ordered from their homes due to flooding in low-lying areas of Calgary.

The areas currently affected are: Mission, Elbow Park, Elboya, Stanley Park, Roxboro, Rideau, Montgomery, Westmount, Erlton, Cliff Bungalow, Victoria Park, Sunnyside, Bowness, Eau Claire, East Village, Bonnybrook, Inglewood, Westmount, Montgomery, Riverbend, Deer Run, Discovery Ridge, Bridgeland Industrial Area, Quarry Park, Riverdale and Windsor Park.

Click here for maps of the affected areas.

Preparations for Evacuation

Police Service, Calgary Fire Department, Animal & Bylaw Services, Calgary Search and Rescue, Canada Task Force 2 and The City’s Corporate Security team have started going door to door in those communities to notify residents of the evacuation.

Once evacuated, residents will not be allowed access to those communities as this is a mandatory evacuation.

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What you should do

Call your family together to decide what you will take. Pack enough clothes, prescription medicine, personal identification and other essential items to last at least one week.

Arrange for you, your family and your pets to stay with friends or relatives. Evacuees who cannot arrange for alternate accommodation will be provided with food, shelter, bedding and other essential services at one of these reception centres:

Southland Leisure Centre, 200 Southland Drive SW or

Acadia Recreation Complex a, 240 90 Ave SE.

People can take their pets to the Animal Service Centre, 2201 Portland St. S.E. or The Calgary Humane Society, 4455 110 Ave. S.E., if they cannot arrange accommodation for them.

Evacuation Procedures

To evacuate residents, the Calgary Police Service will:

• establish perimeters around the evacuation areas

• drive through the areas and announce the evacuation on a public address system

• go door to door to inform residents about the evacuation

• check each building to ensure no one remains in the evacuation areas

• seal off and patrol the areas to prevent unauthorized entry

• Arrange for electricity and gas to be turned off in the evacuated areas.

Calgary Transit and Access Calgary are on standby to evacuate those residents who cannot leave on their own. Please identify yourselves to the emergency responders going door to door.

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Recommended Measures

The City of Calgary advises residents in the affected areas to minimize the potential flood damage by taking the following measures:

• Install the cap in the basement sewer floor drain if you don’t have a mechanical back flow prevention device in place.

• Move valuables such as photographs and personal and legal documents, from the basement or a lower floor to an upper floor.

• Remove newspapers from basements because wet newspaper can stain carpets with ink

• Listen to local radio and television stations for further updates.

• Visit The City of Calgary’s website for information, at www.calgary.ca.

Sandbags

The City of Calgary has a reserve of sandbags for use in priority areas as identified by The City’s Emergency Management Plan. City crews are actively filling and deploying these bags in areas where the need is greatest. Given limited resources, these bags will only be available for use by City crews, and are not being made available to the public. Unfortunately, it is not possible for The City of Calgary to provide sandbags to thousands of homes. We thank you for your understanding during this emergency.

Emergency Response

The City is asking all citizens to help the authorities who are responding to this emergency by observing these restrictions:

• Do not drive to the affected areas unless you are involved in the emergency response. Extra traffic will prevent the authorities from responding quickly.

• Do not use the phone unless you are requesting help or reporting an important event.

• Unnecessary phone calls could overload the telephone system and limit the authorities’ ability to communicate.