In an unprecedented move, the City of Calgary has declared a state of emergency for the city and issued a mandatory evacuation order for eight communities surrounding the Elbow River. Under deceptively sunny skies Sunday, some Albertans started hauling sodden belongings out of their flooded basements while others were coming to grips with losing their entire household contents.

Still others braced for what was expected to be the worst flooding in the province's history -- so much water that officials were calling it a one-in-200-years event.

The average rainfall for June is 79.8 mm, said Environment Canada meteorologist Brad Shannon, but Calgary has already had 165 mm this month alone. The last time June was this soggy was in 1902, when 224 mm of rain fell.