Calgary, Oil Capital of Canada, Could be without Power for Months

After 36 hours of unusually heavy rainfall across Southern Alberta, the water volume in rivers reached record levels, causing them to burst their banks, and flooding most of the region. Over 100,000 people were forced to evacuate and power has been lost to the city of Calgary, the oil capital of Canada.

Bruce Burrell, the director of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, has stated that restoring power to the downtown area, where most Canadian oil companies have their headquarters, could take days, weeks, or even months.

Alderman John Mar, explained that "this is an evolving situation and because of the volatility of electricity and water and the infrastructure that was damaged we have got a lot of issues with restoring power to different parts of the city of Calgary. We are facing an absolutely gargantuan task."

Reuters have reported that another 10,000 people were evacuated from the city of Medicine Hat on Monday as the South Saskatchewan River is expected to burst its banks.

Related Article: Oil is the New Gold

Authorities in the area have said that it is still too early to tally the cost of the floods because ein many places the rivers have not yet peaked.

The floods have been blamed for a 750 barrels of oil spill in Northern Alberta, Enbridge has shut down its two major oil pipelines that serve the oil sands region, as a precaution against further damage and spills.

Enbridge released a statement in response to the spill, saying that "we are still investigating the cause, however, we believe that unusually heavy rains in the area may have resulted in ground movement on the right-of way that may have impacted the pipeline."

By. James Burgess of Oilprice.com