On May 3, the fire swiftly blew through Fort McMurray and that prompted the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their homes all of a sudden. The scenes were chaotic. There were very well coordinated escape caravans but the fire was swallowing up routes as fast as they were being designated.

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On May 1, the Ottawa River crested 30 cm above 2017’s peak flood levels.  As an immediate response to this, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson issued a State of Emergency on April 25. It was lifted on June 12.

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They are Canada’s authoritative source for severe-weather alerts and weather, water, ice, and climate data.  As a matter of fact, in times of crises that cause enough of a stir for it to be remembered as a memorable day in weather history their team of meteorologists and hydrologists work around the clock to monitor and predict hazards like the two flooding stories I just presented to you on this podcast yesterday in Manitoba and the day before in Quebec.

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The amount of water that this spring unleashed on the areas lining the river in this valley back in the spring of 1997 was enough for it to be labeled “The Flood Of The Century”! This covered over 2 thousand 500 square kilometres of land -- in water -- and that forced the evacuation of a staggering 28,000 people.

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By the next day, April 30th, 2019... 9,070 homes and 273 businesses were flooded, and as a result there were now 12,000 people displaced. In the area affected, we also had 82 landslides linked to the flooding as well as the roads and highways I mentioned in the intro. In total, there were 310 municipalities across Quebec that were affected by the flooding.

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The hailstones ballooned to 2.75" (7cm) diameter which we term “baseball sized”. THIS system starting pitching baseball sized hail all around, before it crossed the Missouri River into St. Louis County. Meanwhile, about 100 people were injured and one person was killed when a tent collapsed on a crowd that was gathered outside Busch Stadium after a Cardinals game at a nearby sports bar.

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On Sunday, April 27, 2008, residents of Fort Albany, a First Nations community primarily made up of women and children, were forced to flee what were now the worst floods since 1985.  Because of the rapid ice breakup on the river they now had mighty ice flows racing down stream at a force that burst through the dikes, thrusting river water up, over and on to the mainland of the reserve where the 900 residents lived. 

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This outbreak would go on to result in 21 people being killed, 17 of which were from the Andover tornado. But the Wichita-Andover tornado was actually the 3rd in a series of 4 tornadoes that pushed through South Central KS. F5 damage also occurred across the southern part of Andover where large frame homes were demolished.

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In the avalanche a cascade of snow, ice and rock raced down the mountain, through the populated area known as “base-camp” and in it at least twenty-two people were killed.  This made this event the new deadliest disaster on the mountain. The 7.8 magnitude quake would be blamed for the death of more than 5,000 people, and the injuries suffered by an additional 10,000 people.

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Floods have been part of recorded history in New Brunswick for over 300 years.  They date back as far as 1696, when the first written record told of a late, very high spring water level that delayed crop planting for the residents of a small French settlement at Jemseg. In 2018, The Saint John river overflowed its banks and water levels crested to over 27 feet (8 ¼ meters) in Fredericton by May 1. The rush of water closed 50 streets in the city and forced hundreds of residents from their homes. 

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