Friday, June 21, 2013

Fire and Flooding Threaten Rockies Communities

Areas of the Rocky Mountains have been plagued by both fire and flood recently.Powerful flood waters coursed through the Calgary,Alberta area Friday.About 75,000 have been evacuated from their homes,but only 1500 are in emergency shelters.Most have taken refuge with friends and relatives.
Three deaths have been reported so far.The water went as high as the tenth row at the ice rink of the Calgary Flames NHL team.The Calgary Stampede rodeo grounds were also inundated,with water reaching the roofs of barns at the site.
The flooding is attributed to a combination of prodigious Rocky Mountains snow melt and heavy rain swelling the Bow River.It extends as far south as Lethbridge,Alberta.The waters appear to have peaked in Calgary for the moment,but could still go higher,and other towns have yet to feel their full force.
Elsewhere in the Rocky Mountains,Colorado wildfires are among those causing the US Forest Service to spend 40% of its budget on firefighting.A total of 16 are currently burning in Colorado,some of them totally uncontained.Arizona and New Mexico are also struggling with conflagrations.
In Colorado,the East Peak fire is now at 9,000 acres and 0% containment.Ten buildings were destroyed,including a Boy Scouts ranch.The scouts were evacuated.The West Fork fire has grown to more than 18,000 acres,and the Wild Rose fire is another blaze that is  also 0% contained at 850 acres.
On the plus side,the Black Forest fire was declared fully contained on Thursday.It had killed two people and destroyed 509 homes.Arson is suspected in that fire.
Ultimately,the question is whether global warming has contributed to both the fires and the flooding.One suspects that it has,since it is the context of everything weather-related in our world today.

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