Floods 2013: Caused by bad dam management?

[Robin Goodfellow]

Spoke to someone the other day that was convinced that the 2013 was caused by bad dam management - According to him, the dams upstream were all allowed to fill too full, before being opened, instead of being proactively bled off as the rain came down.

This doesn't ring true to me.

Does anyone have an insights into this?

[A790]

Originally posted by Robin Goodfellow
Spoke to someone the other day that was convinced that the 2013 was caused by bad dam management - According to him, the dams upstream were all allowed to fill too full, before being opened, instead of being proactively bled off as the rain came down.

This doesn't ring true to me.

Does anyone have an insights into this?

Does this person believe we landed on the moon?

[gatorade]

Exactly what type of credentials and expertise did this person have that encourages anybody including yourself or anyone else to take this seriously?

Even without any expertise on the subject, I'd say the 2013 was caused by get this...RAIN.

[msommers]

Can you guys ban this imbecile please?

[Robin Goodfellow]

Originally posted by gatorade
Exactly what type of credentials and expertise did this person have that encourages anybody including yourself or anyone else to take this seriously?

Who said I took him seriously?

I'm pretty skeptical of the claim myself, but rather than dismissing out of hand, would like to see if there's more to this that I'm unaware of.

[Feruk]

I suspect there is less.

[a social dsease]

I bike to work along the Glenmore Reservoir pathway daily, and was doing so daily last June. In the days leading up to the flood the reservoir was at the lowest I've ever seen it, the SW arm was pretty much all mud flats, same with the SE arm. The only part of the reservoir that had any water at all was the N arm (closest to the dam) and I suspect that the only reason they didn't drain it any more than they did is because there is likely an absolute minimum level they can hit without causing damage to the dam/water intake infrastructure.

So to answer the question, no, I don't think it was caused by poor dam management.

Also if you do some research you can probably find the estimated volumetric flow rate of the elbow during the flood, with some simple math I'm sure it would be easy to calculate that the flow during that time probably well exceeded the holding capacity of the reservoir.


Can't speak to the ghost/bearspaw but I'm sure they would have employed the same strategy.

[Gart]

You could always try looking at the environment alberta website. They track exactly this sort of thing. If you're really keen, you could call and ask them - they're pretty helpful. (In my work I'm usually after wind data, but I'm sure it's just as accessible for the water stuff..)

..Was interesting to watch the water levels go up and down during the floods last year.

basically you're looking for something like this:
http://www.environment.alberta.ca/ap...n=8&DataType=3

just for last year results.

I'm sure if you seach in the site you'll find any data you want (and more!)

[revelations]

Originally posted by Robin Goodfellow
Spoke to someone the other day that was convinced that the 2013 was caused by bad dam management - According to him, the dams upstream were all allowed to fill too full, before being opened, instead of being proactively bled off as the rain came down.

This doesn't ring true to me.

Does anyone have an insights into this?

Someone find this man the thread last summer about the flood. It has a great play by play of what exactly happened.

[Robin Goodfellow]

Originally posted by revelations


Someone find this man the thread last summer about the flood. It has a great play by play of what exactly happened.

TLDR

[thetransporter]

We were trucking in earth along elbow drive on that Thursday night before the flood. The safeway parking lot was full of dump trucks waiting to unload.

Its like they (city) knew but didnt want to tell people.. I could be wrong...

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by Robin Goodfellow
Spoke to someone the other day that was convinced that the 2013 was caused by bad dam management -

Did this happened on the bus?

[themack89]

I read (I forget from where) the 'initial' cause was forest fires down in Colorado. Some complicated explanation involving high pressure, low pressure, and other weather terminology.

Edit:

It might almost seem ironic that as Colorado residents struggle through intense and destructive forest fires, the storm that flooded Canmore and a massive swath of southern Alberta originated in that U.S. state. Sucking up warm, humid air from the central US, the storm travelled north then stalled around the Montana/Alberta border. There it rotated counter-clockwise, trapped between the Rockies and a high pressure system to the north, and so its winds blew toward the west — opposite the prevailing direction. This forced the clouds to rise and cool, which then squeezed the moisture out of them — an event known as a cold low. “Cold lows cause most floods in the Alberta foothills,” Pomeroy said.

Conditions on the ground added to the destructive force of the storm in several ways. Since rain had already fallen for a couple of days previous to its arrival, the soil was saturated. In some places frozen ground was recorded just 50 centimetres down that was unable to absorb the rain. Also at higher elevations, plenty of the winter — and late spring — snowpack remained. Once the rain fell on the snow, the relatively warm humid air associated with rain condensed on the snowpack and released large amounts of energy which melted the snow very rapidly. Strong winds (felt as far as Golden, B.C., two hours’ drive northwest) helped this process.

http://www.rmoutlook.com/article/201...ow-valley-rain

[cancer man]

The flood was a good economic boost for Calgary.Too bad the farmers out east didn't receive any water since the canals were closed.
Ask NENSHI about that.Farmer called him out on it and he was stumped.
This flood could've been totally avoided.

[16hypen3sp]

Originally posted by Robin Goodfellow
Spoke to someone the other day that was convinced that the 2013 was caused by bad dam management - According to him, the dams upstream were all allowed to fill too full, before being opened, instead of being proactively bled off as the rain came down.

This doesn't ring true to me.

Does anyone have an insights into this?

I remember something along these lines being said a few weeks after the flood... so whoever said that to you is definitely not alone in thinking that.

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by thetransporter
We were trucking in earth along elbow drive on that Thursday night before the flood. The safeway parking lot was full of dump trucks waiting to unload.

Its like they (city) knew but didnt want to tell people.. I could be wrong...

As Canmore and Bragg Creek were already flooded, the city was on flood watch and several neighborhoods were on evacuation alert by that time, yes, you are extremely wrong.

[ZenOps]

Numbers for dam levels are well documented.

Me - I'm watching the Hoover dam levels this year. Even with drastic measures (paying farmers upstream to not grow food) since 2010 its still dropping fast.

http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/.../mead-elv.html

[OU812]

OMG Dam management brutality.

[95EagleAWD]

Originally posted by ZenOps
Numbers for dam levels are well documented.

Me - I'm watching the Hoover dam levels this year. Even with drastic measures (paying farmers upstream to not grow food) since 2010 its still dropping fast.

http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/.../mead-elv.html

It is? Because the numbers are about the same...

[GTS4tw]

Originally posted by 95EagleAWD


It is? Because the numbers are about the same...

I tried to tell him that in another thread. He likes his headlines, shhhhh no facts for Zenops please.