Alberta Flooding 2013

inundated city

reply to post by Sankari


You see yourself as a hero and have an emotionally damaged and betrayed little girl as your avatar, but with this kind of remark, I think those things are most likely more representative of an oxymoron. The floods are quite real. There are people on this forum that have been directly affected by them but I suppose stepping on toes doesn't matter to you when you're high and dry in Adelaide.

I have a houseful of evacuee's and their pets. Luckily all the pets are getting along. I have lived here for decades and have never seen anything remotely like this.

The entire downtown core is shutdown and flooded, the city was cut in half.

This water will be heading east now, I hope that Medicine Hat and Drumheller are more prepared for what is coming their way.

Given the massive evacuations and huge areas affected, I am amazed that we have only lost four people in the region flooded

reply to post by Leonidas


What a kind soul you are, one day you will be rewarded for your compassion to others. You are an angel to those who have no where else to go...

The SaddleDome. It will be back and ready in time for next NHL season...











This (above pic) is where the players come out

Originally posted by CALGARIAN
ATS Family,

I live(d) beside the river.... I lost everything. Everything.
All my pictures, computers, guitars, keyboards, turntables. All my daughters belongings. Clothes.

I'm typing here now... But I've died.

I'm so sorry to hear Calgarian. I hope you and your family have a safe place to stay while you get back on your feet.

Haunting message from Calgarian, -have been thinking about it for the last while. Kinda puts it in perspective, heartbreaking really..

Hope your making out OK Calgarian

Bridge collapses with train on it..over the wire, industrial area .. i was wondering how the infrastructure would react..

Police say that a rail bridge in Bonnybrook is failing in southeast Calgary and a train, possibly carrying dangerous materials, could fall into the Bow River. Emergency crews have been on the scene since early Thursday morning, blocking off roads and trying to determine the contents of the train. Since the incident is in an industrial area, police say that evacuations haven’t been necessary. They’re asking that no one enter the area. The City of Calgary and the police have closed Ogden Road and Deerfoot Trail between Glenmore Trail and the Calf Robe Bridge in both directions. They expect the closure to last throughout the morning commute. Read more: calgary.ctvnews.ca...

calgary.ctvnews.ca...

reply to post by canucks555


Oh no. I hope they have some way to pull the train cars off the bridge safely. Fingers crossed because that will be nasty disaster if it fails.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


they secured the trains and anchored them to other cars. as of 7 pm local time tonight they had drained all of the petroleum products out of the cars and were attempting to pull them off the tracks/bridge. so far 0 people have been injured and the risk of spillage is now gone. The city has been amazing so far the cleanup and repair of major arteries into the city core is remarkable.

there have been several reports of looters and squatters but for the most part its been people helping people. a lot of homes have been destroyed and by the sounds of it insurance wont be covering much if any of it.

And now this:

Feds confiscating guns from evacuated residences in High River

Soon, their attention turns to the line of police officers on the other side of a barricade. “You’re leaving our homes wide open. You’re leaving our animals to die,” one woman shouts across the barrier. “You’re kicking in people’s doors and taking their guns.” This last accusation — which police later confirm as correct to Herald journalists on the scene, citing safety reasons — comes heavily laced with enough curses to make a sailor blush. Read more: www.calgaryherald.com...

reply to post by FlippinHeck


They're not being allowed back to their homes to survey the damage in High River? That confuses the heck out of me because I would think by now the waters would have receded to allow people to begin salvaging their belongings. Nice touch on the mayor being absent to boot. Sounds like very poor city management and between the lack of communication, the distress of residents in terms of property and animals, and absence of leadership, I bet it's a powder keg. I just cannot imagine why they would still be preventing them from returning to their homes unless there was something toxic released in the flood waters. Pretty ridiculous. The guns being removed from homes I can "sort of" comprehend as one wouldn't want them falling into the hands of looters; however, wouldn't it serve a better purpose to allow the residents to go in and remove their own valuables (of which guns would be included)? High River sounds like it needs a better mayor.

The mayor has now thrown up his hands and turned over the disaster management to the provincial government. Homeowners are still being barred from returning to High River because I guess the RCMP need more time to finish looting all the houses. Instead they get packed on busses every few days and moved around southern Alberta so they don't outnumber the cops guarding their looting crews.

Meanwhile in Calgary (my home town), the mayor is visible and accountable, and is holding people accountable for doing their jobs in service to the community. He even went after the head of the Canadian Pacific Railway after a railway bridge collapsed and derailed several tanker cars full of flammable petroleum material -- and got an apology!

He's also encouraging the community's efforts to clean up and rebuild, and guess what? It's working. The volunteer effort is well organized, it's getting massive (free) help from local businesses, contractors, food services, and individuals.

That, my friends, is leadership by example. Got a question? Offering help? Need a donation? Tweet @Nenshi, and HE RESPONDS and retweets so the word gets out. Same on Facebook. High River? Not so much. It's very sad -- I still have old friends living there who have probably lost everything because politics was more important than people.

reply to post by FlippinHeck


I've been watching this play out on tv. The High River mayor doesn't seem the least bit competent.
The Calgary mayor, really knows his stuff. He's even planning on having the Calgary Stampede still. It's only a week away!

Those High River homes are all going to have to be demolished, because of the mold.
It makes no sense that even houses where the water level was down, people still weren't allowed back in.
That just ensures that all that is wet, is completely toxic
And nothing is insured! No overland flood insurance

How do they rebuild from nothing? Will there still be a town there when this is all over?

Calgary was pumping and vacuuming water out the day after the flood, wherever they could ..

Its been about a month, and things still arent quite back to normal. Thought I would bump this thread with a pic to show the water level difference that happened during the flood.

Some perspective for people not from the area. These pics are from Lethbridge, south of the worst hit areas in the provinces. Cant imagine what its like for people farther north still dealing with the cleanup.






*sorry that the pic isnt embedded... my browser has issues and I dont have the patience to figure out why its not uploading properly

Heard it's been slow going and rents are rising in Calgary. Not unexpected. My SO was trying to help a family member find a place and watched the rent go up around $300 within a week of the flood. With all that was affected, particularly basement living areas, it's not a great surprise.