Meaning of えれぇ in this sentence


A daughter is telling her dad about an incident that happened at school. He
replies:

> 「へー、そりゃえれぇことになっちまったな」

I think this is the same as:

> 「へー、それはえらいことになってしまったな」

I don't understand the meaning of えれぇ in this sentence. I'm translating it as

> This has ended up becoming a **famous** event.

but she is telling him on the same evening as the incident happened so
'famous' doesn't seem likely. Is there a more obvious translation that fits
the context?




えらい can have a positive or negative meaning depending on context:

When talking about a person of great status for example you'd refer to them as
えらい人 and it has a positive meaning

but here since it's an event and an incident at that the meaning becomes like
大変な or 非常に and means something like: very/ extreemely, it has a negative
nuance that is implied and the meaning becomes somthing like:

> This has ended up being a **terrible** event.

So it's all dependent on context whether it means great, good or terribe, bad
etc.




えらい can have a positive or negative meaning depending on context:

When talking about a person of great status for example you'd refer to them as
えらい人 and it has a positive meaning

but here since it's an event and an incident at that the meaning becomes like
大変な or 非常に and means something like: very/ extreemely, it has a negative
nuance that is implied and the meaning becomes somthing like:

> This has ended up being a **terrible** event.

So it's all dependent on context whether it means great, good or terribe, bad
etc.

