Update
As I am currently writing this it is Tuesday, June 25 at 8:57 pm and we have still not yet been cleared to return to our neighbourhood. Graydon stopped by the apartment today and we still have no power or gas. It's especially frustrating since our street experienced no flooding whatsoever but I guess we share an electrical grid with some of the devastated areas. We heard a rumour that we may be able to return home tomorrow, but now it seems it has been pushed until at least Thursday night. Traffic has been phenomenally bad as many major routes and bridges are still closed, so my normally 15 minute commute now takes over an hour. Despite it all we remain hopeful and when I see how Calgarians are working together to clean up the city I feel a deep sense of pride to call this city my home. From the thousands of volunteers to the countless business owners who are donating their time and services to clean up the city it's an amazing site to see. A huge thanks to all the fire-fighters, police officers and city workers for their tireless efforts and to Mayor Naheed Nenshi for the constantly updating his citizens and even responding to tweets from individuals in the city. Will be updating again soon when we receive any update.
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It was Thursday afternoon when I first became aware of the impending destruction. I had heard Calgary was under a heavy rainfall warning and that some flooding was expected. I was also aware that some homes had begun to experience flooding, as several people called into my work in an effort to report insurance claims.
On my way home I listened to the local radio DJ announce that several areas, including Mission were under mandatory evacuation orders and expected to remain that way for up to 72 hours. I was troubled by this news as we are only a few blocks away from Mission, but felt fairly confident that we would be unaffected as we're located uphill and far back from the river. As I crossed the bridge over the Elbow, I couldn't help but shudder as I gazed down at the surging body of water.
Before heading to bed at around 10:30, Graydon and I checked the evacuation updates and found that Victoria Park was being evacuated, but our apartment fell just outside of the area indicated by a red square on the posted map. The two of us drifted off into an uneasy sleep with the sound of multiple sirens looming in the background.
At about 3:30 am Graydon woke up with a start and peered out the window anxiously.
"What's going on?" I asked. "What time is it?"
Graydon explained that he had just seen the text message our landlord had sent around 1:00 am and stating that we needed to evacuate. I groped for my iPhone, a quick Google search confirmed my fear: Beltline has been added to the list of evacuated communities. Amongst the search results was a chilling message from Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi urging those in evacuated areas to pack some belongings and leave immediately. The neighbourhood was eerily silent save for the noises emitted from those fleeing their homes and rushing into waiting cars. The long, piercing screech of a whistle echoed down the block as cops did anything they could to wake up residents. Across the street, a man in a reflective vest was ringing buzzers and urging people to leave. Lights glowed from the adjacent apartment as people, like ourselves, fearfully peered out their windows or rushed about, trying to gather their belongings.
For a while the two of us struggled to make a decision. On top of being half asleep, totally groggy, and absolutely confused, we really had no idea where to go. We didn't want to have to wake up any friends or family and had no interest in spending the rest of the night in a shelter. We contemplated just staying put until morning, after all we had missed the evacuation notice by nearly four hours, the situation couldn't possibly get any worse right? We gazed out the window once more; the streets were completely dry and no rain was falling. Since there was no way we would ever get back to sleep, we finally decided we might as well go. We resolved to go to the Macleod Denny's, as it's on high ground, away from the river, and near my work, allowing me to avoid the inevitable morning traffic caused by the multiple road and bridge closures. I threw some random clothes and toiletries haphazardly into a suitcase and headed out.
I will forever be grateful that we chose to leave when we did, because we got not even two blocks away and were met by washed out roads, and parked cars up to their windshields in flood water. We finally managed to get out of downtown and arrive at our destination to join the other evacuees devouring Grand Slam breakfasts and discussing their various experiences. By around 7:00 am we were sitting in my work parking lot and listening to updates on the radio. I received a frantic text from my manager enquiring about my safety. I spoke to my boss and recounted my night. She told me that they were hoping to remain open (being an insurance agency and all), but she wasn't sure how many brokers would be able to make it in. She gave me the option of leaving with Graydon, if it made me more comfortable. As guilty as I felt leaving them for what was without a doubt going to be an insanely busy day, my fear of worsening conditions, more road closures, Graydon not being able to return to pick me up and being stranded with nothing and no where to go made me extremely distressed.
Thank goodness I chose to take her offer, because what should have been a 25 minute drive to Aris' took upwards of 4 hours. The traffic on Glenmore was crawling and people struggling to get to work or to safety were desperately driving across meridians and sidewalks trying to escape the crawl. When we finally made it to the bridge we were told by an exhausted looking police officer that the only bridge in operation was the Centre Street bridge and we were going to have to try and make our way back downtown in order to cross it. We finally inched across the bridge along with the hundreds of people who had come down to the river to take photos and videos or to just catch a glimpse of the raging waters below.
Once we were safe and sound at Aris and Jenna's, we followed the news updates and saw the terrifying images of downtown Calgary completely submerged in water. After a quick investment in some sturdy gumboots, we headed down to the Bow River to witness the destruction first hand. The enlarged river had overtaken the surrounding homes and continued to grow. We watched in horror as the violent waters ripped trees from the ground, dragging them into it's depths.
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Today we woke up to bright sunshine and it seemed like any and all troubles were a lifetime away. We heard word that the Bow is expected to decrease up to 25% while the Elbow could decrease by as much as 60%. We also heard that it may be as far as mid week before downtown will fully be accessible. Graydon had an event he had to attend, so he vowed to try and stop by the apartment to grab us some more clothes and some of the other items we had forgotten in our haste to leave. He texted me to say that our street is no longer flooded and he was able to get into our apartment, but that the power is still out. As of right now we are hopeful that we will be able to return to our home by Sunday night, maybe Monday at the latest.
Right now I am optimistic that the worst of the devastation is behind us and my thoughts and prayers go out to all of those effective in High River and Canmore, two areas that have experienced huge loss. I also believe Calgarians will band together and clean up the city just in time for the Stampede which is supposed to start in a mere couple weeks. I will be sure to post any updates I hear as they become available. Check out some of the incredible footage below.
You can click here to donate to victims of the flood.
