Ten Ninety

Many tumbling thoughts on this First Day of Summer.  Here it's rain, rain and more rain.  Parts of Calgary, where I lived for over 30 years before moving out here, are under water, and there have been evacuations.  Current Mayor, Mr. Nenshi, advised all who can to stay home today -- especially out of the downtown area, where public transit, streets and parking will be difficult in the lowest areas.

To understand how unusual this is, you need to know that in all those years, downtown Calgary never closed for snow, let alone rain.

The city is built around two rivers -- the Bow and the Elbow.  While the Elbow may have crested, it's not known how long it will be before the waters begin to recede.  The Bow, on the other hand, may still be rising.  The Mayor on the situation:

There have been mudslides near Banff and Canmore that have cut off Highway 1 -- the TransCanada -- and may be blocked for up to a week!

Photo Courtesy of "Meanwhile in Alberta" (Facebook)

Below is a photo of Macleod Trail, a major thoroughfare travelling south through downtown Calgary, one of several such photos submitted via Twitter on the Weather Network post of the situation.

Photo source: The Weather Network

I've never seen anything like this in the city I called home for three decades!  I have friends and family there and so far everyone has reported that they are home and dry and safe but...whoa!!

High River, south of Calgary (site of "Smallville" in the Superman movies starring the late Christopher Reeve) is in real trouble and people (and the hospital) have been evacuated.

High River - Photo Courtesy of  88.9 Shine FM (Facebook)

Sundre, south and west of here by a couple of hours, is also in a local state of emergency, and has moved it's hospital patients 'way east to Innisfail.  In fact, the east side of Sundre has been evacuated as the Red Deer River is rising...

And the news keeps rolling in!

I'm off to start the rest of my day...Montreal-bound (flying out of Edmonton) tomorrow, so meeting my friend who'll be watching the house and the kitties till my return (Wednesday -- it's a short trip)...mumbling prayers continually as I go.