Calgary Flood 2013 – June 22, 2013

Like thousands of Calgarians yesterday evening, I was able to go down to see the aftermath of the floods that hit Calgary this weekend. I can tell you that being there to witness the Bow River and the flooding in person is very surreal.

This is my very first few after stopping at the top near Crescent Heights. This is a view of the houses adjacent to the Calgary Curling Club.

Here are a few more pictures of the houses surrounding the curling club.

This is a direct view of the Curling Club surrounded by flood waters. You’ll notice the police cruiser to the right.

Here is another view as we are walking down from the stairs by the curling club.

Here is a close up shot of the cruiser in the middle of the flood waters.

Just a view you would never seen of the curling club.

This stretch of Memorial Drive is completely surrounded by flood waters. I am standing in the middle of it. The only other time where this would be empty would have been during the Bow River Flow, but this is a completely different scenario.

Walking along Memorial Drive, the Bow River waters are just rushing past you. Notice how muddy it is as well.

Here’s a video shot of just how fast the river is moving (so the people who were reportedly canoeing on Saturday were not very smart to do so).

On the west side of Centre Street Bridge. You’ll notice the tree just sstuck between the water and the middle pillar.

Here’s a view of the Bow River from the top of Centre Street Bridge. Prince’s Island Park is completely submerged.

A flooded part of Chinatown at 2 Ave SE and Riverfront Ave.

A completely flooded shop along 2nd Ave in Chinatown. The owners were pumping out the water as I took this picture.

My girlfriend and I went near Eau Claire to visit my friend’s area. The west side looks relatively unscathed.

1st Street SW and 6th Ave are devoid of any traffic. Lots of people wandering around though. The ghost town atmosphere is unreal.

This is a building along Macleod Trail S and between 12th and 13th Ave. You can see the underground parking is completely flooded.

A gentleman entering the building told me that the water was up to his shins on Friday at the entrance of the building. Now it’s all mud at the entrance. If you peek inside the building, the entire ground is a layer of brown mud.

These are shots of all the debris that’s collected along 13th Ave SE. There are tires, cushions, branches, sandals, etc. A lot of the debris was stuck underneath or next to the vehicles that were abandoned.

Here’s a distant look at the little building beside the Victoria Park LRT station.

The tracks are damaged going to the Victoria Park station. My understanding is that the tracks going to Erlton are also damaged.

Along 14th Ave, there are crews already pumping out water from the underground parkades.

As you can see, Macleod Trail N is completely devoid of any traffic. There are just a couple of people walking in the middle of the streets.

City crews were already hard at work clearing the streets and gearing up for the clean up.

You could hear and see lots of helicopters flying around, like this one in the distant.

One last look at Chinatown near the river before we headed home.

Now the clean up begins.