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Severe flooding in Calgary's Bowness neighborhood Tuesday night left seven vehicles stranded and required the city's fire department to rescue 13 people.
A fire department spokesperson told CBC News that while the cause of the flooding has not yet been confirmed, he believes it may have been the result of a possible water main break.
Police and firefighters responded to flooding on 16th Avenue NW.
Trevor Sommerfeld, acting battalion chief for the Calgary Fire Department, said there was significant flooding under the CP railway bridge near 69th Street NW.
According to him, the situation is related to a water pipe break. The situation developed according to the same scenario as catastrophic rupture involving the southern feeder of the city of Bear Spa, which occurred in June 2024.
“The flooding under the bridge itself is pretty bad,” Sommerfeld said. “It's closing two of the four lanes of traffic on 16th Avenue, but we have partners with CPS (Calgary Police Service) completely closing down 16th Avenue.”
The westbound lanes of 16th Avenue were closed between Home Road and Sarcy Trail Tuesday night, and police said they expect those closures to remain in place for several hours.
Sommerfeld said the flooding initially didn't seem as significant to him as what happened after a water main break in 2024, but noted it was still a large volume of water.
There were no serious injuries, police said. Sommerfeld said a city water crew was on the scene Tuesday night to try to determine the cause of the flooding.
People were asked to avoid the area and wait for further news from the city, Sommerfeld said.
A water main break in June 2024 left the city's water supply in critical condition, leading to local emergency and months water restrictions.
A report The investigation into the cause of the 2024 incident identified several likely causes, including hairline cracks along the pipe and surrounding soil conditions that contributed to the deterioration of the supply main.
