Canmore Flooding 2

Park near bridge - flooded

Water under the Bridge Street Bridge - normally you can walk or bike under the bridge - not so much today

Hydraulic flow around the bridge piers - downstream side

Policeman's Creek

Sunset over the flooded Bow River - looking towards Cascade Mountain and Banff

The water sounds like it is going down slowly (see hydrograph for the Bow in Banff). Note you have to agree that the graph might be inaccurate and then it should bring you to the graph page.  Miraculously our parkade is dry, but we are lucky to be in a very well built building.  Its beautiful weather out right now - sun - clouds just ringing the mountain tops - as soon as I finish my coffee I think we'll go for a little walk - although the trails we were using last week - a lot of them are closed, but downtown is dry. 

We've been asked to conserve water - and of course - being used to being on trucked water and sewage - this is fairly routine for us.  Although, I wish I'd taken a shower before the conserve water order - I still have paint in my hair.  There is an amazing video of the damage and flooding here on The Globe website.

Looking out our window, there is no hint of the destruction on the other side of the valley where Cougar Creek ran amok - although last night they were pumping water out of the legion's basement and a lot of shops are closed.  We, of course, are trapped here with no traffic east or west save for the escorted busses returning people back to their homes for those working in Banff and live in Canmore or vice versa.  Somehow, they also got food trucks in to the grocery stores.  

I'll try and take a few more pictures today - all the ones in this post are my fiancees. One of the toughest things for me given my Civil Engineering and Water Resource Engineering background has been not being able to go see as my duties as a mom and one who was in the process of moving and painting kept me indoors and away from the action most of the last few days.  Obviously, I wouldn't be one of those people to do something foolish and risk my life, but I might have gone to the safe vantage points to shoot a few pictures.

The pictures from Calgary have blown me away.  Canmore is a small town, but seeing the downtown of the largest city in the province underwater is scary.  On the flip side, I think the mayor of Calgary is one of the most well spoken politicians I've ever met.  I am incredibly impressed by his handling of things and the way he spoke to his citizens.  In the meantime, my heart goes out to all the folks who's home and properties.  I hope that things get better soon and the damage is less severe than it looks.