Nightly News   |  June 23, 2013

Wildfires rage in US as Canada combats flooding

Wildfires are coursing through several western states, with a giant blaze tearing through the Rio Grande National Forest and forcing evacuations. In Alberta, Canada, historic flooding has turned the Saskatchewan River valley into a disaster zone. NBC’s Mike Taibbi reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> they are extreme. mike taibbi has that for us tonight.

>> reporter: it's hard to see just through the cloud cover how big a danger still poses for the wildfire. so far it's just miss the the resort town of south fork . the residents have been told it can be a week or more before they can return home.

>> we don't know whether we're going to tough it out and stay here or head for home.

>> reporter: over night it grew from 65 to over 100 square miles . partched timberland now turned into deadwood fire fields.

>> firefighters are not going to be put into the midst of that and have to back off because of the hazard.

>> reporter: back off and rely on the hope that something in the weather data changess.

>> it looks like mother nature has lit a match over this area.

>> reporter: in arizona, the fight against the week long fire, 750 firefighters, and $4.5 million so far. ? albert that, canada thief dealing with the flooding. and including the cities of calgary into a disaster zone. tens of thousands evacuated and issued warnings under threat of arrest.

>> residents are advised to remain away from brims, waterways rg banks and evacuated areas for their own safety.

>> fire and rain in the sense that it's never the calm before the storm but only between the storms.