Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Though this week's storm has already led to widespread power outages, fallen trees and water pooling on city streets, city officials say they believe they're well-equipped to handle whatever the next few days bring. The city remains under a state of local emergency called on Monday. While the Environment Canada rainfall warning for Calgary ended on Wednesday, the weather alerts remain in place for a swath of southern and central Alberta north, east and south of Calgary.
Atmospheric rivers are like rivers in the sky, which transport large amounts of water vapour from the equator northward. CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe said the weather system will be bringing a long episode of heavy rain to the South Coast. "The atmospheric river is hitting the South Coast through Friday and into the weekend, basically a plume of moisture, bringing all of that rain from the western Pacific and it will feel like we are at the end of a fire hose aimed right at the South Coast," explained Wagstaffe.
