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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Devastation


Last Thursday, many towns and villages in southern Alberta, as well as the city of Calgary experienced the worst natural disaster, that this area has seen in our history. Enormous amounts of rain, combined with the spring snow melt caused massive flooding. My little hamlet of Bragg Creek experienced a flash flood, that had many people running for their lives as the streets turned to raging rivers. Many had to be  rescued.  the river tore through our pretty peaceful town in the foothills with such a raging force, that many parts of town  look like a tidal wave went through it.  Two homes were tore away from the bank, floated down the river and smashed into the bridge. The main bridge was closed to traffic and people, and our house situated on the opposite side, along with hundreds of other homes were cut off from everything for 2 days. The good news is that most of us on this side, were far enough from the river, that we were all fine. 

On Saturday morning when the evacuees were allowed back into the town, and the bridge reopened, we all showed up to start the massive task of cleaning up.  My family spent 3 days at the restaurant were my son worked as a busboy for the past year. The owners had always treated him like their own, so we focused our efforts there, aas well as their home which was directly behind the restaurant.  The river had come directly through their property and business. The water level reached over 6 feet high, and the mud that remained in the restaurant was about 4 feet deep. The house was a mess as well. Keep in mind that these were not water front properties and were set way back from the river. The river changed course and came through the center  town. Both places will be bulldozed, there was no way you could ever clean that up. so we hauled everything out of both places, which took us 3 days, of wading through the mud, and salvaging what we could for them. 

The back of the restaurant on the left, home on the right







In happier times

 Another place that was devastated was the Trading Post, a place that had existed since the 1930s, by settler T. J. Eldson, who traded with the Stoney Indians. Part of this building is where the current owners live, and the front  was the actual store.


Here is how it looked on Friday.

We saw what was left of it yesterday. The road is gone, and now only river flows there.


There are so much sadness here, in our beautiful part of the country. Our town and the areas surrounding it will be forever changed. 
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7 comments:

BeadedTail said...

Oh my, that's so horrible and heart breaking. I'm glad you and your family are okay. I saw video on the news of a house floating down the river and hitting a bridge. Mother Nature can be very cruel sometimes but with everyone coming together the beauty of your part of the country will always be there. My thoughts are with everyone affected.

Hot Rocks said...

That video was taken in this area. Thats the bridge i cross every day, to go to town.

Lin said...

Oh, that is soooo sad! I'm sorry that those places have been destroyed. :( I hope that they will rebuild.

It was nice of you to help out. I'm sure you felt helpless to see such destruction. It's so scary, isn't it?

I'm glad you are safe, my friend!

Jane Perala said...

Oh Susan, how awful for your little town. I'm glad to hear that you and yours are safe. It will be a long clean up for the affected areas, and my heart goes out to them.

Catherine said...

It's so sad! So much devastation. I'm glad you are OK at least. It will indeed take a long time to get thing back in order.
Stay safe!
Hugs!
xo Catherine

DVArtist said...

Ohhh I am so sorry to see this. I am glad you are well and that you have the heart to help others.
Nicole/Beadwright

Keith@ Vintage Crab Jewelry and Crafts said...

That is horrible. I have been seeing images on the news and I know it was very devastating.

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