Friday, 20 June 2014

June 20: One Year Ago

One year ago today, I was being evacuated from my home due to severe floods in Calgary.  I will never forget that day.  I had the day off because I had some major work done on my teeth (didn't want to be a drooling mess in front of my students).  I watched the river behind the house rise for most of the day. Some communities were already being evacuated. My sister and some friends dropped by that evening to go for a walk and see what was happening in Fish Creek Park. As we walked through the park and saw just how high the Bow River was, we ran into a neighbour who let me know that our area was next on the evacuation list. I kind of laughed it off thinking it couldn't get much higher.  After everyone left the house and I watched more of the news, I began to realise how serious this was. I went for another walk to the river an hour after the first one and it had gone up significantly.

Now, Shea and I had already packed up a lot of the house before he moved to London.  We had left all this valuable stuff that we wanted to keep in basement.  I made a few phone calls to my future brother-in-law, my aunt and uncle and my parents, all of whom were not picking up their phones.  So I started hauling boxes (or at least the ones I could carry) upstairs.  Eventually, people started getting their messages and my family all found their way to my place.  We moved the last of my things to high ground and waited.

The police lights started flashing in front of the house around 11:30pm.  It was time to pack up and evacuate.
Thankfully, I had done a bit of packing and planning while we waited and there were 3 vehicles there that I could fill with my stuff.  We all started grabbing things and cats and moved into my parents house (which is right across the river from my place).

That night was a very long night. You could hear the river roaring all night.

The next day, the river was higher than I ever could have imagined.


The Bow River from my parents home. Normally, you can see a river and a small creek running through this area.  There are also little islands along the river. 

More Bow River.

That morning, we were all very anxious to get back to my place to see the damage (if any).  It did not look good from our vantage point. But we were still kind of hopeful that everything would be okay.

That hope kind of faded when we crossed the Deerfoot Bridge and saw these following pictures.

The Bow River looking north.  

The Bow River looking North.  This is where Lafarge has a large business.  All of it was under water.
 Thankfully, after we found the flashlights and ventured into the basement, the house had no water inside.  It was still safe!

The river was VERY close to the backyard, as you can see.  Normally, you can only see a little bit of water from this vantage point. It had to crest a hill and form a new river through the field.  

Nothing like a photo-op flood moment!  
Some of the evacuees.
 We were very thankful that the basement never flooded.  None of our neighbours had any damage either.  Unfortunately, Fish Creek Park, a park that I have grown up in, will never be the same.  I strapped my GoPro to my bike and got these shots after the water had receded.

This used to be a nice little creek that I used to boat down as a kid.  Now there are fallen telephone poles, and a sandy beach.

Some fallen trees on a washed-out bike path.

Debris along a bike path that is now full of large stones.  Notice the bench.  It survived the flood. 

This is some debris from Lafarge along the creek.
A log pile.  Someone had already come along here and collected rubbish along the broken path. 


This used to be a path and bridge  towards Mackenzie Lake.  The bridge is gone and the path ends.

Another shot of the broken bridge.
Calgary has forever changed after this flood.  It was an event that build communities and tested the City. Our mayor became even more awesome in my eyes.  School final exams were cancelled (and I had some pretty awesome exams ready for my students)! People did whatever they could to help strangers affected by the flood.  We even had the Stampede go ahead (still refused to attend though, another story).

I am looking forward to going home for the summer and seeing how Fish Creek has changed after one year. I don't think the bridges have been rebuild and the paths have been reconstructed but it will be interesting to see what has happened to the landscape.  What trees are still living? How has the wildlife adapted to the new park?  How has the river system changed?  Do my parents still have a bike path behind their house or has it eroded into the river?

Dublin with the Parents!

Instead of having family visit us in London, we met my parents in Dublin.  This was a nice break from London. Unfortunately, my parents have a reputation of travelling only to places when it is raining (or they bring the rain with them).  This was definitely the case in Dublin.  It rained everyday.  We did eventually get to see the sun though.  The clouds broke as we were waiting to get on the plane to come back to London.  

We made the most of the weather though and got to see some pretty great things. 

This thing behind my head is called the Spire of Dublin.  Basically, its a stainless steal spike that served as a great landmark as it was right by the hotel.  Also, a great Unicorn addition!
One of the first things we saw was Christ Church Cathedral.  It is a very tiny little cathedral that reminds me of the Castle at the end of every Super Mario 1 level.
This is Christ Church Cathedral.  The coolest thing about it is that in the crypt, there is a mummified cat and rat. Also, the television show "The Tudors" did a lot of filming here.  They showed some of the costumes used.


The cat and the rat.  I love creepy things!
Attached to the Cathedral is Dublinia: an experience that takes you back in time to a world of vikings and eventually to medieval Dublin.  It is a fantastic interactive museum where tourists get to learn how Dublin came to be, and how people lived.  I recommend this one if you are ever in Dublin!  It has just enough cheese and interesting facts to keep you entertained.

Who wore what kind of shoes?  
Life was not long back then!
Who ate from which plate?
A trip to Dublin is never complete without a trip to the Guinness Storehouse.  There, we learnt about how the beer is made and even learnt how to taste the different notes in the beer.  Did you know there is chocolate in it?

This was the never-ending walk to the front entrance of the Storehouse.  And it rained the whole time!

I have a new appreciation for the beer but it is still really filling.  Drinking on is basically the same a eating a whole meal.  Your tummy is full!

On one of the days, it didn't rain (as much).  We decided to take a bus tour outside Dublin to see the Wicklow "Mountains."  They are not really mountains so much as hills which makes me giggle. We did see some pretty sites though!

Here the parents are posing on the bridge from the Movie "PS, I Love You."  Its a great chic movie that will have your mascara flowing down your face by the end.  The bridge was old looking.

The parents in front of a lake.  There is a VERY expensive house back there that you can't see.  It will cost 20,000 euro a week if you want to rent it out. 

We also went to the Glen of Two Lakes.  There you will find the most important Monastic ruins of Ireland. There is apparently something in the water in this area because people live very long lives there.  The founder lived to 120 year in 617 AD. That's not a unicorn horn behind me but a bell tower!

This is lake 1.  Very pretty picture Shea got here while the rain stopped for about 15 minutes. 
On our final day in Dublin we visited the Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship.  This is a replica ship of one that was used to bring Irish Emigrants to America.  It made 16 voyages between 1847-1855 and carried over 2500 people to "the new world."  The most amazing thing was no one ever died on the ship. Even when the ship was sinking on its final voyage into the Atlantic and the crew climbed up the masts to avoid the water, another ship came by, just in time, to pluck everyone off as the ship sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Captain Shea!


Captain Dave!
Other notable sites we saw included Trinity College (the Book of Kells) and Kilmainham Gaol (a prison).

It was a wonderful break from London and a great chance to catch up with the parents.  Also, we were all questioned why any sane person would live there: it seriously rained the WHOLE time! No wonder there are so many Irish people in every other part of the world.