Howdy Folks,
Been busy, keeping out of the way and such. Staying with family in the big city. We are safe, high and dry.
In days to come I will start a bit of a de-brief on this situation, what worked, what was overlooked, what could be improved, assumptions and such. But not today.
I returned to High River today. I was not allowed any closer home than the army check point on Highway #2.
It would seem our little flood came in two stages. Stage one occurred as we evac'd Thursday night, with the ground water being forced to the surface. Stage two occurred yesterday, Friday 21 June, with a backflow on the Highwood River forcing its way into SE and NE High River. These are neighbourhoods nowhere near the river or the "flood Plain". The Western Financial Building near Highway #2, as well as Rowan House, appear to be untouched. I can't say for any other structure further West.
Prayer go out to my friends, neighbours and fellow citizens of High River.
Mountainman.
Mountainman et all... Keeping you guys in thoughts and prayers. Hoping for as little damage as possible (or none at all!) and a speedy return to normal life.
High and Dry here in Airdrie
My home is fine but the radio tower that my internet connection goes through took three days off. 😆
The bow river at carsland was about 1.2 km wide a couple of days ago. The little bow was flowing up to about 25 times it regular volume of water and threatening some of the reservoirs.
Have you noticed that some people that 'questioned' the need for preparedness are more interested in it now?
Than= I’d rather be rich than poor.
Then= I first became hungry then I ate.
There = She is there now.
Their = They have their things.
They're = They're going to the mall.
To = They came to the house.
Too = That's too bad.
We're dry as well.
I've been able to start a lot more conversations at work about 72hr preparedeness without some wisecrack about zombies or National Geographic Doomsday Preppers (which I now believe has done more damage than good when it comes to educating people).
It is ironic that Traveller's closing statements at our spring meeting was about the 2005 flood and how bad it would be if the water came over the Glenmore Reservoir... I believe it was flowing 2 meters over the top at some points.
One co-worker even asked me if I'd talk about preparedness at lunch for some people... I'm not an expert but I guess it would be a starting point for some people.
Dang,
Good to hear from you and that you and yours are safe.
You are now a subject material expert at your workplace.
If needed try to cruise the Alberta Health Services website, they may have material to help out.
Be safe and take care,
Mountainman.
Very interesting! I wish the had made note of how they knew which houses had them, if they only removed unsecure one or did they take out whole gun safes!
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
Well to say the least it has been an interesting week...
So here is how my flood experience went down..I got word of the flood at the copper mine in Logan Lake B.C. as I was there delivering tires..
I phoned my folks as they live beside the river and have delt with this twice since living in High River, my Mom stated that yes we are flooding and it was running in the basement windows....Riverside dr High River......they were evacuated 2 hours later with a pay loader and 2 feet of water in there Garage and one step to go before it ran on to the main floor out of there basement....[ ok so the folks are flooded but safe].....
On to my place.....June 1st we moved from sw high river to ne high river where it never floods........ Fast forward to June 20th and the flood of the Century hits.....I am now in portland oregon it is about 12:00 am and i get the first ph call from my wife..the water is running through the Hamptons 2 blocks west of our place...[My reaction is] ARE YOU SHITTING ME.....ok so now the checklist kicks in....ok the Jeep is loaded..for bug out at all times...bug out bags are packed bug out clothes are loaded.... good to go, we go over things on the ph I feel confident things are ok she can handle it......4:00 AM next ph call, [in A SCARED VOICE] I waited too long they are evacuating us [ MANDATORY] I have to walk out the water is 4 feet deep on the street and I can't drive out.....My reaction is...[ suck it up you have the training from Search & Rescue and everything I have drilled into your head now deal with it.......Ok I have to go the water is coming.....CLICK.....ph goes dead......HOLY CRAP....... remember I am in Portland Oregon.....10 minutes Later ph rings ok I drove out the back fence with the Jeep, the water was up to the head lights the mud was flinging but I made it.......That people is training ,preparedness, Mentally And one hell of a bug out Vehicle to bale your ass out of a tight jam when you make the wrong call when S.H.T.F.....Job well done.....
We are safe at my sister's farm last word is 3/7 weeks to re-enter our area.......
And a quick note about the Gun seizure, from the info I have gotten it was the guns found loose in evacuated homes, guns under the bed and not locked up properly.... This would have been the homes that were flooded and were being checked for Search and rescue and in the event someone didn't make it out.....Thats the info that I have......Take it from there......
Believe it or not I may not have been flooded my Condo sits on High ground and it only got two inches above my back door...It is a brand new place and the doors fit very tight with new seals. fingers crossed it may be dry inside, us and 3 other units, unforchantly everyone else will not or may not be so lucky....
Better to have it and not need it; then to need it and not have it...
Wow, thanks Traveller for the update.. please tell your wife, so glad she got it done! and good on you for having it packed, ready and kick-ass when needed!
So glad you are all safe at your sisters, keep us posted.. do you know yet if your place was one of the ones that was checked? by the RCMP? and if anything is "being held for its safe return at this time?
I do understand that Holy crap, the few times in the past ten years where something really bad went down, that did snow in, or everything out for days etc, seemed to often happen when the hubby would be either half a country away or up in a mining camp..
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
My toys are locked up like fort Knocks A locked room door a locked closet door with a locked steel toy box.....They [ as I was told by the Mounties ] ONLY unSECURED LOOSE TOYS....not stored properly...were being taken to the detachment....
Better to have it and not need it; then to need it and not have it...
Holy Crap!
That's a very unsettling story; the not knowing in between trying to drive and work and not be a distracted commercial driver, etc, etc, etc...
Glad she made it out (like Wonder Woman riding a wonderful machine)! Wish we could have helped in some way but as we all know; it was sooo fast!
Awesome news Traveller! Love the fact she drove the jeep out the back fence.
No surprise that "Crashed" would pick up on that lol.
By the way, where the heck have you been? You've missed all the hug parties that Traveller has organized of late.
I erroneously heard that the zombies rose up and have been hiding away in an unground bunker keeping my head buried in the sand......ok, just been stupid busy at work and spent a good chunk of the last few months out of the country. Got back the night all this flooding took place. Let me tell you that Thursday evening flight into Calgary was not fun.
So here is my depressing update....
We went in to the NW of High river today to work and start the clean up for the folks and we were informed that there house has been tagged red...Condemned un-inhabitable for ever, thanks for coming out see you next year.....The devastation to Our little town of 13000 is about 80% and with 141 houses out of 1500 in the NW condemned which this area was probably hit the least hardest if there is such a thing in High river, it looks very bleak for the rest of us, as a lot of us are still under water and will be for 1/7 more weeks depending on your area...alberta.ca check for your self....and yes I Have water in my condo that we just purchased and have lived in since June 1 st........This may be hard for some to understand but the amount of water that came down the Highwood river was nothing short of Biblical....Heavy Heavy rain with a big snow pack in the mountains and a storm stalled over the snowpack made for a lethal combination, and as Dang said, this was the exact scenario i closed our last meeting with.....Kind of ironic.... We have only 2 inches in our condo as it sits on the highest point in our complex but it just wasn't high enough, and it will continue to sit there for about another month before we can get in......SOOO the mold and stink will be well embedded into the walls as we are expecting temps into the 30's over the next little while....
So to help you understand why so long the NE of High River sits on High Ground and has never flooded before it even stayed dry in 2005 and that was bad...So what happened is it came over the high ground and filled in the low where we sit, we know live in A LAKE I DESTROYED YOUR HOUSE....It's like filling a plate with water and we are in the middle of the plate, and I live right on the edge of the plate, and the water won't drain they have to pump and cut a trench if possible and this is a body of water is about 15 feet deep in places and about a mile wide and 2 miles long......Its going to take a while.....So the rest of high river floods, pretty much drains as the river goes down, but this time it decided to get really deep and flood the plate and really screw our world up.....
Now by no means do I want anyone feeling sorry for myself and the off-roader...aka Omniscient One, we will be fine, But I do want you to learn and take the devastation very seriously..this flood was what you see on tv with the water rushing in and devastating a town in minutes and i do mean minutes....You keep prepping and stay alert,work on your Mental preparation and Your bug out plan...And this was a bug out scenario, so have a solid plan and stick to it......Learn from us here in high river and STAY PREPARED.....And make dam sure your spouse and your kids or whoever is with you in preppin that they know what the plan is and what to do if they have to bug out....Mental preparedness is just as or even more important than having supplies...Thats the one thing that saved My wife's BUTT [ along with a Jeep with good mud tires].. was her mental capacity knowing what to do and staying relatively calm under extreme pressure....You drill the plan into their heads vigorously, it becomes muscle memory,so if The.S.H.T.F..and your not home they can deal with it....
Stay prepped gang and see you soon.....
Better to have it and not need it; then to need it and not have it...