Calgary Flood 2013

Fish Creek Provincial Park

Fish Creek flows west-east in the deep SW/SE part of Calgary. It may not be as affected by the flooding as it was in 2005, possibly because of better bridge building after that flood. 

Above is a log that was shooting down the creek Thursday afternoon. Below is the same or near the same spot as above, note how there isn't a shoreline anymore! And the current is still fast of course.

This is the train bridge just west of the previous photos, you can see the pedestrian/bike bridge just past it. It was also taken Thursday afternoon.

 This is directly beside the pedestrian/bike bridge (the one in the above photo) on Saturday afternoon.  The sign states that the path that was there is closed so that the vegetation can regrow. (As of yesterday it is now gone as well).

Elbow Park

Below is Elbow Park, an upscale neighbourhood of older homes. This particular street is not on the Elbow River, but is two streets over from the river, one of those streets being 4 lanes. There is a strip parkland between the river and the wide street (Elbow Dr.). The river is the small patch of murky water in the top & left of centre.

This is the pedestrian pathway under Elbow Dr. I think just beyond the black garbage bin is an garden owl. The blue beside the black bin is a recycling bin--wonder if they still have their addresses on them.

This is what is left of the suspension bridge that spanned the Elbow River. It was part of our route to downtown and up to SAIT and the UofC. It is laid out, deckless, along the bank. This bridge is to the left of the flooded Elbow Park neighbourhood pictured above.

An oddity and a moment of peace and tranquility amid the mucky mess. This is a garden along the banks of the Elbow River, it looks like the water hadn't touched it. It is still clean. The gazebo is gone, and no sight of it, yet this place is clean. Did someone spend hours cleaning it up or somehow it escaped the damaging waters as the gazebo was swept away?

The sidewalk is even clean!

The Glenmore Reservoir Dam releasing Elbow River (chocolate) water. I don't really understand the mechanics of dam usage but apparently if it weren't there the flooding would be worst.

The clean-up has begun. Few human lives where lost but vegetation and wildlife (in the zoo and in their natural habitat) were lost and will take about a decade to recover says the ones in the know. Calgary was fortunate, this flood didn't directly affect a large footprint of the city, but what infrastructure that was damaged, affects a tremendous amount of people. I have photos of the aftermath because my husband & I were looking for a new way for us to ride up to the post-secondary institutions we work/attend. Our leg of the LRT will be out of service for at least 3 weeks...no tracks in one section and two tunnels were flooded. I'm adversed to letting my husband & daughter travel in an underwater tunnel in an electric train!