It was...

[Fittisize]

Hey, lookie the weather up here! Not only has it been raining and windy as a motherfucker nearly everyday since school ended on June 26 (it was quite warm the two days before, while I was in school writing finals), but the rain and weather got worse enough to cause hundreds of millions of dollars damage to the world's largest mall in Edmonton. I won't be doing much shopping there this summer. Check out how deep in water the cars are in the background of the picture.

<TABLE height=185 cellPadding=2 width=250 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD>


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)


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


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.