Alberta Flood 2013: Elbow Valley Kananaskis

I imagine any Canadian who has an television, internet connection, smart phone or newspaper carrying carrier-pigeon has heard about the devastation caused by the deluge of rainfall from last week.

From what I've heard, High River is mostly destroyed and the majority of Calgary's downtown core is underwater. The town of Bragg Creek sustained major flood damage and many businesses are temporarily closed.

Here in the Elbow Valley district of Kananaskis Country, we are better off than many. We have running water, enough food to get us through the next couple of weeks, generators and an abundance of friendly mosquitoes.

I was at work on Thursday morning when things really started to go sideways. A portion (a twenty foot portion) of the bridge crossing the Elbow River on Highway 66 fell into the river when the eastern supports gave way under the force of the swollen and raging river. I was working at the store on the side of the bridge closest to civilization when the bridge collapsed. Unfortunately, that was the side opposite from my house.

The co-workers at the store with me all headed into Calgary, looking for higher ground. We started off at a friends place in Bowness until that was evacuated as well. They stayed put, I decided to try and make a break for it. It took about an hour to get to another friends in Varsity from Bowness - usually about a 12 minute drive. Spent that night in Varsity and then met my mom in Cochrane the next day for her to take me home to Clive. Spent one night there and then got the call from my boss that I was on a helicopter flight back across the river to help pack up and ship out.

Now here we are, sitting tight on reasonably high ground as the flood waters recede, looking for a new way to daily cross the Elbow. Anyone got a canoe I can borrow?

Elbow Falls Day Use