Heavy rainfall, snowpack melt has Canmore dealing with localized flooding

Usually when people are in Canmore, most of their time is spent looking up at the Rocky Mountains all around the western Alberta community.

But after a deluge of rain hit the province over the past few of days, residents and visitors alike are spending a lot more time than they bargained for looking down to see just how much water there is.

Canmore resident Kevin McDonald is one of them, finding it hard to shake the memories of the 2013 flood that damaged parts of Calgary, High River, Canmore and other southern Alberta communities.

“In 2013, the basement did flood and right now, there’s no water,” McDonald told Global News. “Every day I just grab my headlight, go down in the basement and check things out, but so far, so good.”

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Days of rain have the Bow River and its tributaries pushing its banks, leading to the precarious placement of walkways normally situated well above the rushing water below.

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On the streets of the town, large puddles are never too far from sight.

“We’ve had commercial structures and residential structures that people have had flood,” said Jason Lyon with Canmore Fire. “The challenge with that is you can’t turn that water off… you have to rely on the pumps.”

Recent cooler weather has helped slow the area’s snow melt, after a remarkable snowpack during the 2025-26 winter season.

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But temperatures are forecasted into the high teens for the rest of the first week of June in the Bow Valley and that could mean water levels remain high.

Lyon says debris is also a concern.

“I think the river’s behaving right now; it’s staying within its banks, unless we see a substantial rise in the water level. We’re asking people to stay away from the river.”

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