The 2013 Flood at the Saddledome

On June 21, 2013, the Bow River entered the Calgary Saddledome through the lower-level concourses. The water rose to row 14 of the lower bowl. The Stampede was eleven days away. Crews worked around the clock through one of the most consequential weeks in the building's history. Come Hell or High Water became the slogan that stuck.

The flood

Heavy rainfall through southern Alberta over June 19 and 20, 2013 sent the Bow River, the Elbow River, and several smaller rivers into flood stage. By June 21 large parts of downtown Calgary were under water. The Saddledome sits on the Stampede grounds, between the two rivers, in what had previously been considered a manageable flood plain.

Water entered the building through the loading-dock entrances on the lower level. From there it filled the dressing rooms, the ice plant, the press level, and the concourses on level zero. By the time the river crested, the lower bowl had filled with Bow River water up to row 14, which is partway up the seating section. The water was brown with silt. It was cold. It carried debris from the Stampede grounds and the city's storm sewers.

Estimated damage to the building was over $30 million. Lower-level dressing rooms were destroyed. The ice plant required full replacement. Some historic memorabilia stored in lower-level rooms was lost.

Eleven days to the Stampede

The Calgary Stampede was scheduled to start July 5. The Stampede grounds were also flooded. The Stampede board, the City of Calgary, the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, and dozens of contractors made the decision to push through. The slogan Come Hell or High Water was adopted formally by the Stampede that year. It has remained part of the city's identity since.

For eleven days, crews ran on no sleep. The Saddledome itself was not central to the Stampede schedule (most Stampede events happen at other venues on the grounds), but the building was visible, iconic, and a symbol. If the Saddledome could be made to look operational by Stampede week, the city would feel like it was recovering. So crews focused on cosmetic recovery first, structural recovery second.

The Stampede happened. Attendance was down slightly from the year prior but still over a million across ten days. The chuckwagon races ran. The rodeo ran. Garth Brooks did a benefit concert later that summer. Calgary recovered, in the city's preferred mode, by working harder.

The longer recovery

The Saddledome itself was not game-ready for several months. The Flames lost their entire pre-season at the building. Crews replaced the dressing rooms, the ice plant, electrical systems, and large portions of the lower-bowl seating. Insurance covered most of the cost. The Saddledome was operational by October 2013, in time for the regular NHL season.

The flood became a recurring theme in the conversation about the building's future. By 2019, when the City and the Flames reached the new arena agreement, the 2013 flood was cited as one of the reasons the Saddledome's location had become problematic. The new Scotia Place, scheduled to open 2027, is being built on slightly higher ground with better separation from the river flood plain.

What the flood revealed

The Saddledome had survived for thirty years without a major water event. The 2013 flood was the building's first existential test. It passed, in the sense that the structure held and the building came back online for the next NHL season. But the test demonstrated that the building's location, on the river side of the Stampede grounds, was a liability that climate change would only make worse.

For Calgarians, the flood is one of the city's defining recent moments. Every Calgarian over thirty has a flood story: which neighbourhood was evacuated, which friends had a basement filled with mud, which volunteer effort they joined in the days after. The Saddledome flood story is part of that broader civic memory.

The water reached row 14 of the lower bowl. Anyone who had a season ticket in section 117, row 12, can tell you their seat went underwater that week. The building came back. The story stayed.

Come Hell or High Water

The slogan was attributed to Bob Thompson, then Stampede president and chair. It became the formal Stampede 2013 marketing line and continues to be used in city literature about the recovery. The phrase captures something about Calgary's response that's hard to put another way: a flood that would have shut down most cities for weeks shut Calgary down for less than two. The Stampede ran. The Saddledome reopened. Life resumed.

That's the kind of civic moment that tends to be remembered long after the buildings involved are gone. The Saddledome's role in 2013 is part of why, when it comes down in 2027, the loss will register as more than just a stadium loss.