Fittisize Wrote:It's supposed to be -20 tomorrow. :(

Quote:I wish it was colder.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:And yet, with that in mind pretty much everything we're used to here on Earth is remotely cold, considering how SO much closer we are to absolute zero than to the highest temp in the universe.

A Black Falcon Wrote:80 degrees is a midsummer day... this year is abnormally warm. :( I hope it doesn't carry over into summer (and remember, air conditioning is rare here... big stores have it, and occasionally someone will have a window box air conditioner, but central air? Just about never.)!

Great Rumbler Wrote:90 degrees, please that is soooo weak. Try to live through the 100+ degree summers that we have here.

A Black Falcon Wrote:They stay in and turn up the AC. :)

Fittisize Wrote:I dont' mind heat...then again it rarely gets over 35...30 it's a real warm day, but on average, it's 25 degrees. (25=68 F for all you imperial users...stop living in the stone age and upgrade!).

I don't know why you biatches don't go outside more often in the summer...take up soccer, or something. It's a good sport.

Quote:I would like for you to spend one month here in the summer. And I'd like to see you, just once, try to play a game of soccer in the dead of July in Richmond, Virginia. You'd be on the ground wheezing in an hour. If 70 degrees is the worst you have to deal with, you ain't seen nothin' yet, baby. Here, on a good night, it might get as low as 70 around 4 in the morning. Of course, with the humidity, it may as well be 85.

A Black Falcon Wrote:We've won the Women's World Cup twice.

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A young girl wades out into the flood water in the West Edmonton Mall parking lot after a severe storm hit Edmonton. (CP PHOTO/Edmonton Sun-Jason Franson)


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About 20,000 people were forced from West Edmonton Mall yesterday, the first evacuation in its history, as overtaxed drains flooded much of the ground floor with thousands of gallons of water in a major rainstorm. The evacuation was described by some shoppers and staff as chaotic, but mall management insisted they got the public away from the affected area as quickly as they could.

"Everything just started popping at once. Nothing could hold it," said Gary Hanson, mall general manager, standing in a puddle and looking glumly over the swamped ice rink.

"We've got 1,200 drains here, and the water was probably overflowing in every one. Never seen anything like it."

Drains - like eavestroughs on a home - channel water from the massive mall's roof into city storm sewers. Those backed up. And, a large drainage trough above the rink's glass roof collapsed, sending yet another cascade of water down from above.

Hanson estimated the damage from the flooding at "hundreds of millions of dollars" to the $2.8-billion mall. He blamed the city's overloaded storm drain system.

Much of the mall's Phase 2 was under a foot and a half of water, but the centre of the damage was the indoor rink area. Observers described water pouring from the rink's glass roof "like a fountain."

One drain next to the rink turned into a geyser, forcing staff to smash out the glass panels surrounding the rink to let the water flow onto the ice. Nearby shops were swamped.

"That store there," said mall worker Dave, pointing to the Play Me video game outlet. "Game discs were floating all over the place. It was awesome."

The Brick furniture outlet was particularly hard-hit; company CEO Kim Yost said half the shop's display stock was on the lower floor.

"It's in six inches of water now," he said. "We could have half-a-million dollars worth of inventory lost."

Management shut down power in every part of the mall except Phase Three; staff were left mopping in semi-darkness.

The evacuation announcement was made at 4:35 p.m., but stragglers were still leaving the mall as late as 7:30 p.m.

Paramedics reported at least two people injuring themselves by slipping on the wet floors. Hanson said unflooded "portions" of the mall, started in 1981 and completed in 1998, will be open today.

Quote:"That store there," said mall worker Dave, pointing to the Play Me video game outlet. "Game discs were floating all over the place. It was awesome."