There's been a State of Emergency Declared here in Calgary and evacuations all over the city.
EVACUATIONSEmergency evacuations are underway in the communities of:
Beltline
Bonnybrook
Bowness
Bridgeland Industrial Area
Chinatown/Eau Claire
Cliff Bungalow
Deer Run
Discovery Ridge
Downtown/East Village
Elbow Park
Erlton
Inglewood
Hillhurst
Mission
Montgomery
Quarry Park
Rideau
Riverbend
Riverdale
Roxboro
Stanley Park/Elboya
Sunnyside
Victoria Park
Westmount
Windsor Park
These communities are closed to all through and local traffic. Egress only is permitted on all routes out of these communities. Detours crews are working with CPS to complete the evacuations.
I happen to live in Beltline.
I also happen to have nowhere to go & would never inconvenience others.
So what do I do?
There's only 2 shelters and I would never frequent them because:
A] I would never take space from someone with a child who might need it
B] They won't allow me to bring BryAnne.
Despite being forced out of my apartment earlier, I did return.
Mainly because my apartment, according to city releases, was NOT initially on the list of evacuations. It looks like they just got wrapped up in the excitement of it and started kicking everyone everywhere out.
So, here I am in the dark and terrified.
Chances are the flood would NEVER reach this far into the city centre - but what I experienced earlier is hard to shake. Having the CPS nearly tear the door off my apartment and start screaming at me to leave was terrifying. I'm still shaking and that was hours ago.
I don't know what the next 24 hrs hold.
[6/21/13- 3:40pm]
At 6am this morning they officially shut down grid power.
I was able to stay for a while longer until just before my cell phone died.
I became worried that if something does take a turn for the worse that I would not be able to call for help. So, with my last ounce of juice, I called my good friend Josanna to take her up on her offer to allow me to stay at her place with her family.
They are incredibly sweet and even set up a guest room for myself and BryAnne.
Their 3 children are enthralled with having a bunny in the house but were told to give her some time to settle in a bit.
I'll see if I can get her interested in playing with the kids later.
She's never dealt with kids before.
To help make things a bit easier, and because Josanna knows how hard it is for me to ask for help- she's proposed that we celebrate Wine-o-clock tonight. I can't help but agree. I'm sure a glass in and I'll be dead to the world.
I haven't slept at all or eaten anything since yesterday morning.
Can I admit something?
It's kinda nice to hear kids playing upstairs.
Kinda missed that.
[6/22/13 - 6:30pm]
I'm still waiting on notification to return home.
I was hoping it would have been put forward by now.
Some of my friends have passed by my area and have assured me that water didn't reached anywhere near my home. That's one worry off my mind.
Though, despite that, they still are refusing to restore power to my grid.
Here's just a couple of photos of some of what we're dealing with here:
This is 8 blocks from my apartment. The red circled area is the c-train tunnel that my train takes for me to go to work.
Lion's Park, Calgary
This is my area evacuation map from Thursday. My apartment is the green square.
Another photo of how serious the Alberta flood has been.
It's not over yet - but we're getting there!
In order to kinda allow me to simply take a breath and relax for a second, I've been asked to a movie close to the area I'm staying in by a good friend. We're also heading out for dinner. I haven't eaten a meal since Thursday.
Cross your fingers, pray, whatever it is you do, and hope that everyone else here effected is safe. I've gotten in contact with most people I know and have assured their safety. But I know that it's been devastating for so many.
I'll do my best to keep this updated until I get finally get home.
