JORDAN VERLAGE / CPKevan Yeats swims after his cat Momo to safety as the flood waters sweep him downstream and submerge the cab in High River, Alberta on June 20, 2013 after the Highwood River overflowed its banks. Hundreds of people have been evacuated with volunteers and emergency crews helping to aid stranded residents.
Yeats’s mother, Lori Yeats, says both her son and “grandkitty” are safe and sound after their ordeal. Lori Yeats — who lives in De Winton, Alta., just south of Calgary — says Momo is an indoor cat that actually loves water and constantly tries to crawl into the shower with her owner.
An eight-month-old cat’s dramatic escape from a truck sinking in Alberta floodwaters has cast both the water-loving pet and her owner into the spotlight. There has been an outpouring of concern on social media for Momo the cat and her owner Kevan Yeats since the two were photographed Thursday by The Canadian Press swimming to safety as Yeats’s pickup truck was swept downstream in High River, Alta.
In fact, she says of the two, Momo is the faster swimmer. Lori Yeats says her son and his pet were a little emotional last night, but they’re taking their dramatic water adventure in stride.
Meanwhile, Downtown Calgary looked like a ghost town Friday with entire neighbourhoods shut down as torrential rains and widespread flooding in southern Alberta washed away roads and bridges and sent residents dashing for safety. The City of Calgary says it has ordered the evacuation of the entire downtown area. About 230,000 people work downtown on a typical Friday. Here are some of the sights from Calgary and the surrounding area as the province struggles with the floods.
JORDAN VERLAGEYeats crawls out the back window of his truck with his cat Momo.
JORDAN VERLAGEKevan Yeats swims after his cat Momo.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan VerlageYeats and Momo are led to safety.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan Verlage
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan VerlageKevan Yeats with his cat Momo at his parent's house near Okotoks, Alberta on June 21, 2013. Yeats and Momo narrowly avoided death when they leapt from Yeats' truck in flowing flood waters in High River, Alberta on Thursday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan DenetteWater flows pass vehicles in the flooded community of Bowness as up to 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Calgary, Alta., on Friday, June 21, 2013.
AFP PHOTO / DAVE BUSTONDAVE BUSTON/AFP/Getty ImagesA woman walks her dog through rising waters and stranded cars in the evacuated downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 21, 2013. Flooding forced the evacuation of some 100,000 people in the western city of Calgary and nearby towns in the heart of the Canadian oil patch.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan VerlageThe east end of High River, Alberta sits flooded on Friday June 21, 2013 after the Highwood River, overflowed its banks Thursday. The town was locked down by emergency crews as relief efforts continued.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rocky Mountain Outlook-Craig DouceA row of homes undermined by floodwater line Cougar Creek in Canmore, Alberta as floodwater in the waterway eases on Friday June 21, 2013.
Jen Gerson/National PostThe Calgary tower hovers above a flooded west-side Calgary street on Friday June 21, 2013.
Jamie Kormarnicki / Postmedia News fileThe scene south of the Elbow off Macleod trail and 25 Ave.
PMO Photo by Jason RansomPrime Minister Stephen Harper goes on an aerial tour of High River, Alberta, surveying flood damage.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshPrime Minister Stephen Harper, far right, looks at a map of the flooded areas of Calgary with Alberta Premier Alison Redford, centre, and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, as fire chief Bruce Burrell points out problem sites. Heavy rains have caused flooding, closed roads, and forced evacuation in Calgary, Alta., Friday, June 21, 2013.
Courtesy Janelle EvansThe Bow River just south of Calgary floods and overwhelms several neighbouring ponds.
Courtesy Brian EvansCattle are stranded on the banks of Bow River Friday just south of Calgary.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardFlood waters surround the hospital in Canmore, Alta. on Friday, June 21, 2013.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan HaywardFlood waters surround buildings in Canmore, Alta. Friday, June 21, 2013.
Keith Morison for National PostAn evacuated home in the Bowness neighbourhood has an x on the front to indicate the home was evacuated voluntarily. Southern Alberta is widely under a state of emergency as heavy rains and spring run-off lead to widespread flooding.
Keith Morison for National PostA Telus vacuum truck tries to keep up with the water pouring into a building on Bow Crescent in the evacuated neighbourhood of Bowness in western Calgary.
Jamie Kormarnicki / Postmedia News fileThe scene south of the Elbow off Macleod trail and 25 Ave.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan DenetteResident Cody Chatfield drives his lifted 4x4 through his neighborhood looking at the flooding homes in the community of Bowness as up to 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Calgary, Alta., on Friday, June 21, 2013.
Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian PressPrime Minister Stephen Harper, left, walks to a waiting helicopter with Alberta Premier Alison Redford, right, and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, for an aerial tour of flooding in Calgary, Alta.
Colleen De Neve/ Postmedia NewsPrime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Calgary on June 21, 2013 to meet with Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Premier Allison Redford about the severe flooding in Southern Alberta.
Keith Morison for National PostA Telus vacuum truck tries to keep up with the water pouring into a building on Bow Crescent in the evacuated neighbourhood of Bowness in western Calgary.
Keith Morison for National PostAn evacuated home in the Bowness neighbourhood has an x on the front to indicate the home was evacuated voluntarily. Southern Alberta is widely under a state of emergency as heavy rains and spring run-off lead to widespread flooding.
ADAM KLAMAR/AFP/Getty ImagesRising water floods the Bow River in downtown Calgary on June 21, 2013. As many as 100,000 people have been forced from their homes, but Mayor Naheed Nenshi warned Friday the worst is yet to come in what is expected to be Calgary Alberta's most devastating flood in decades. Flooding forced the evacuation on Friday of some 100,000 people in Calgary and nearby towns in the heart of the Canadian oil patch. Schools were closed and the military sent in two helicopters and hundreds of troops to help clear as many as 24 neighborhoods as heavy rains caused the Bow and Elbow Rivers in western Canada to overflow their banks.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshThe flooded Calgary Stampede grounds and Saddledome in Calgary Friday.
ADAM KLAMAR/AFP/Getty ImagesRising water floods the Bow River in downtown Calgary Friday.
Keith Morison for National PostRyan Mountain looks at the flooding Friday on his normal commute to work Bowness Friday.
ADAM KLAMAR/AFP/Getty ImagesAs many as 100,000 people have been forced from their homes.
Colleen De Neve/Calgary HeraldMotorists carefully made their way through a flooded Crowchild Trail at 54th Avenue SW Friday.
Colleen De Neve/Calgary HeraldAnn Crabtree, left, and her husband Greg Storwick wade through the water in the Elbow Park area of Calgary Friday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshThe flooded Calgary Stampede grounds Friday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshThe Calgary Stampede grounds and Saddledome Friday.
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldInglewood residents team up to work on a dyke to protect their neighbourhood.
Colleen De Neve/Postmedia NewsA pedestrian walked through the floodwaters along Macleod Trail in the Beltline area of Calgary Friday.
Leah Hennel/Calgary HeraldNorm Ederle tries to get into his Bowness home on his canoe.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan DenetteA firefighter and City of Calgary crews unload gravel to help stop the rising water from flooding homes in the community of Bowness.
Gavin Young / Calgary HeraldFlooded areas of Stampede Park in Calgary on Friday morning June 21, 2013
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshAlberta Premier Alison Redford addresses the media during a press conference in Calgary Friday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan VerlageA search and rescue boat carries rescued passengers from a flooded industrial site near highway 543 north of High River, Alta., Friday.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan VerlageFirefighters monitor flood waters that spilled over a Highway 543.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshA man cycles past flood waters along Memorial Drive Friday.
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldFlood waters surround the Saddledome on Friday morning.
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldFlood waters rush past Stampede Park on Friday.
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldThe Calgary Fire Department rescues a family from where they were trapped in their flooded Erlton apartment on Friday
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldCalgary firefighters stand next to a flooded Macleod Train on Friday.
Tijana Martin/ Calgary HeraldA car leaves a flooded parkade in downtown Calgary on Friday.
Tijana Martin/ Calgary HeraldParts of East Village were flooded on Friday.
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldLocal Input~ Gavin Young/Calgary Herald CALGARY, AB: June 21, 2013 - Sections of Memorial Drive remained flooded on Friday morning June 21, 2013. Photo by Gavin Young/Calgary Herald (For City section story by Various)
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldThe Elbow River flooded into the Stampede barns on Friday.
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldMemorial Drive
Gavin Young/Calgary HeraldA city police car sits abandoned in flooded Sunnyside on Friday.
Colleen De Neve/ Calgary HeraldThe Lafarge plant at Deerfoot Trail and Glenmore Trail in Calgary sits submerged.
Jen Gerson/National Post2nd Ave, downtown Calgary on Friday.
Ted Rhodes/Calgary HeraldBrandon Smith carries his girlfriend, who declined to be identified, out of his swamped car on 42nd Avenue in Stanley Park at 2:30 a.m. Friday.
Ted Rhodes/Calgary HeraldPolice officers stand watch on the pathway as he raging water of the Bow River surges only a few feet below the deck of the Peace Bridge Thursday night.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan VerlageA front end loader carries residents after they were rescued from the flood waters in High River, Alta. on June 20, 2013 after the Highwood River overflowed its banks.
Rick Donkers, Calgary HeraldSeveral vehicles were caught in fast rising waters in High River, Alberta.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan VerlageSubmerged cars sits in the flood waters in High River, Alta. on June 20, 2013 after the Highwood River overflowed its banks.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jordan VerlageA resident is comforted by rescuers as she clutches her dog after being retrieved from the flood waters in High River, Alta. on June 20, 2013 after the Highwood River overflowed its banks.
Video by John E Marriott, professional wildlife and nature photographer
Lorraine Hjalte / Postmedia NewsA front end loader was being used to rescue people from the rising flood waters of the Highwood River in High Rver on June 20, 2013.
Lorraine Hjalte / Postmedia NewsDave Welke waits to get rescued from his home in High Rver on June 20, 2013 as the flood waters rise.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshResidents wade through flood waters after an evacuation order following heavy rains caused flooding, closed roads, and forced evacuation in High River, Alta., Thursday, June 20, 2013.
Lorraine Hjalte / Postmedia NewsA front end loader was being used to rescue people from the rising flood waters of the Highwood River in High Rver on June 20, 2013.
Lorraine Hjalte / Postmedia NewsMike Lefurgey tries to move a car further away from the buildings from the rising flood waters of the Highwood River in High Rver on June 20, 2013.
Craig Douce, Rocky Mountain OutlookDebris and water pours across the Trans-Canada Highway as Canmore struggles to deal with massive flooding Thursday morning (June 20).
Lorraine Hjalte/ Calgary HeraldWork crews were digging to Highway 22 in Black Diamond in hopes of getting the water to go back into the Sheep River on June 20, 2012 as major flooding hit the area after a heavy rain fall
Jen Gerson/National PostWater levels of the Elbow river in Calgary continue to rise. Officials have warned homes in low lying areas to be prepared to evacuate. Dirt trucks lined up along the closed Elbow Dr. on Thursday afternoon build a levy.
Rivers swell in Calgary
Jeff Lewis / Financial PostA flooded Sunnyside street corner in Calgary where a mandatory evacuation is underway.
Jeff Lewis / Financial PostA flooded Sunnyside street corner in Calgary where a mandatory evacuation is underway.
Jeff Lewis / Financial PostPeace bridge in Calgary, Alta.
Jeff Lewis / Financial PostPeace bridge closed in Calgary, Alta.
Jeff Lewis / Financial PostAt the Poppy Memorial in Calgary, Alta.
Jeff Lewis / Financial Post10th Street bridge in Calgary, Alta.
Jeff Lewis / Financial PostLRT underpass impassable in Calgary, Alta.
Jeff Lewis / Financial PostA flooded Westmount street in Calgary where a mandatory evacuation is underway.
Most Popular
