The June 2013 floods in Southern Alberta, where we live, have probably been the worst since records have been kept, destroying homes and leaving people with unimaginable cleanups, in High River, Calgary, Bragg Creek, Canmore, and many other municipalities.
River flows, in the Bow, Elbow, and Highwood Rivers, were four to five times the levels of the previous flood in 2005 and around ten times normal.
Normal flow in June for the Bow in Calgary is around 200+ cubic metres per second. At its peak this year, it reached 2400.
Normal flow in June for the Elbow below the Glenmore reservoir in Calgary is about 40+ cubic metres per second. This year it reached 700.
See more statistics about the flood here.
Our house sits just above the 100-year flood plain, as shown on standard city maps. The two bottom levels of the yard, by the river, are in the flood plain and were flooded, up to exactly the top of the stairs from the second level to the main yard. There are now three or four inches of silt on top of the grass on the bottom two levels. Our house escaped, with just half an inch of water in the basement from sewer backup, which we managed to vacuum up almost immediately. We were evacuated Thursday evening and managed to return home on Friday to check for possible damage, which is when we found the water and cleaned it up. At this point there was still power. We then returned home definitively on Saturday, though the power by then was turned off until Monday.
The rest of our street, both east and west of us, was under a metre or more of water. At least one house was lifted from its foundations, just a few blocks away.
Apart from the record high water levels and unprecedented number of evacuees, there was no shortage of curious incidents like the following:
River flows, in the Bow, Elbow, and Highwood Rivers, were four to five times the levels of the previous flood in 2005 and around ten times normal.
Normal flow in June for the Bow in Calgary is around 200+ cubic metres per second. At its peak this year, it reached 2400.
Normal flow in June for the Elbow below the Glenmore reservoir in Calgary is about 40+ cubic metres per second. This year it reached 700.
See more statistics about the flood here.
Our house sits just above the 100-year flood plain, as shown on standard city maps. The two bottom levels of the yard, by the river, are in the flood plain and were flooded, up to exactly the top of the stairs from the second level to the main yard. There are now three or four inches of silt on top of the grass on the bottom two levels. Our house escaped, with just half an inch of water in the basement from sewer backup, which we managed to vacuum up almost immediately. We were evacuated Thursday evening and managed to return home on Friday to check for possible damage, which is when we found the water and cleaned it up. At this point there was still power. We then returned home definitively on Saturday, though the power by then was turned off until Monday.
The rest of our street, both east and west of us, was under a metre or more of water. At least one house was lifted from its foundations, just a few blocks away.
Apart from the record high water levels and unprecedented number of evacuees, there was no shortage of curious incidents like the following:
- When it seemed the zoo would be flooded, the first plans called for the big cats, tigers and lions, to be moved to holding cells in the court building in downtown Calgary.
- Then, when the zoo was flooded, the hippos got out of their enclosure and were very close to escaping into the Bow River. Hippos are apparently very aggressive and dangerous. What they might have done if swept downstream is anyone's guess.
- A neighbour's daughter came back to her father's house in a canoe to rescue the Van Gogh and Group of Seven originals and, she said, get the food from the fridge.
- A CP train derailed when a bridge collapsed, apparently because the gravel it was built on had been eroded. Six cars carrying a diesel-like substance were in danger of falling into the Bow River, being carried downstream and posing a danger to anything in their way, including, one imagines, other bridges.
- A week after the flooding, we were surprised to learn that some of Daniel's friends had just been evacuated again. It turned out this was not because of the flooding, but because a gunfight broke out in their neighbourhood and a police bullet hit a gas meter, giving rise to fears of a serious gas leak.
No comments:
Post a Comment