The rain started on Wednesday afternoon with a thunderstorm that was going on for hours and rain pouring down as hard as I have never seen it before. This went on way into Thursday and on Friday reports from a drowning Calgary reached us.
But disaster also struck close to home...bridges were overrun by water and some residents had to take a boat to get to their house:
It was really surprising how fast the water rose. The nearby Kootenay river tends to flood every year a little bit right around this time, when the melt water comes down from the mountains. This year though the torrential rainfalls added to the already high water levels and had let the river go over its banks in no time.
This is how it looked like last Friday...
Nearby pastures:
The street from Wasa to Fort Steel/Cranbrook:
This street flooded the night after I took this photograph and was closed for two days until the water receded.
Water getting sucked in a drainage hole under the highway;
Two Daisies fighting for survival in the muddy water:
Although it hit our little community quite hard, Calgary really suffered and is still suffering in the aftermath. The Saddle Dom, home of the Calgary Flames was underwater up to row 15! The whole downtown was flooded, streets converted to rivers, 100.000 people needed to be evacuated and many, many lost their homes. This is especially tragic since: "Overland flooding resulting in water overflowing onto dry land and causing damage is not covered in home insurance policies in Canada."(1)
Now a soaring heat wave is predicted...which will have more snow in the mountains melt faster.....
(1) For more info about Calgary, check out their city blog
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