The Clean Up Begins

The rivers have started to recede, leaving a wake of debris, mud and devastation in parts of our city. Downtown is still closed so I am off work, school is pretty much finished for the year (except to pick up report cards and say good bye on Thursday) and the city remains under a state of emergency.  Even though our home has stayed dry and we are safe, we know many that have been affected.  Todd spent the day helping a friend clean out his basement.  They had about 5 feet of muddy water in their house.  Ironically they are hoping it's sewage water rather than the flood so at least they will be covered by insurance, instead of the damage being chalked up to 'an act of God.'  Another family we know has lost half of their backyard to erosion of the river.  They have not been able to return yet due to the unstable nature of the rest of the land and their home.  Countless others have similar or worse stories.

This afternoon I went downtown to take some more pictures.  Usually there is a lot of noise from the traffic and just the bustling of a major city.  Today was so different with just the sounds of pumps working, industrial dryers and trucks hauling mud and other flood debris.  Hardly any people and even fewer vehicles.  Eerie.

So many stories and thousands of images are being shared and in true Calgarian fashion everyone is pitching in and helping where they can.  This morning our mayor put out a request for 600 volunteers and thousands showed up.  It truly is a terrible time, but the spirit of Calgary is strong.

Lots of this tape around

The brown building is where I work

That's a full sized tree across the pathway

This is one of our main arteries into downtown

This road is usually busy, often bumper to bumper traffic

Water level is significantly lower since Friday (see my last post for a comparison photo)

Mud and more mud