The Flood of 2013: a Summer of Angry Rivers in Southern Alberta
$29.95 Greystone Books
This is the book that tells the story of the floods of last summer, with both text and photos. The forward by Mayor Naheed Nenshi celebrates the people of Calgary and the wonderful spirit that moves people to rise to the occasion.
Most of these are photos taken by Calgary Herald photographers, but citizens who had phones or cameras with them during the crisis also share images of the destruction.
It would be easy to believe that “the book is out, the flood is over,” but nothing could be further from the truth. From the first page, the battered houses at Cougar Creek, set off by the rampaging river full of debris such as trampolines and decks, tell you this will not go away anytime soon.
Then there is giant, bite-sized pieces of road, gouged out of the Trans-Canada Hwy at Canmore. It only took a week before the road was opened in both directions. A relatively small miracle in a book of wows!
On June 20 at 7 a.m., officials reported the Highwood River at High River was rising. People there had faced flooding before, sandbagging shifts were announced and the kids were dropped off at school. No one knew at that point what lay ahead. By 9.20, the town was being evacuated as the situation quickly deteriorated.
In Calgary on June 20 at 10:16 a.m., the city declared an emergency and began sand bagging. It was quickly evident that the flooding would be worse than that of 2005. Before the water went down, five people would lose their lives.
This book covers the whole crisis, the flooding of the zoo, the possibility of escaping hippos, the loss or injury to caged and penned animals; the Saddledome with water to the eighth tier of seating; the hospitals, the library and business big and small.
In any big city, the various kinds of loss stack up pretty quickly. People all over Calgary pulled on their rubber boots and went to work.
Nenshi seemed to be everywhere at once, as the premier declared the flood, “the largest in Alberta’s history.” The province “pledged support for all who needed it.”
The photos tell so much. One picture is of a condo at Silvertip Resort, at Canmore, showing a living room with its own gravel pit; large boulders and debris at the height of the top doorframes.
The rivers ran with thick brown mud, the yards were slippery with greasy mud, mud was the order of the day, for many days.
The pictures of the cleanup include the mountains of wet debris at the curbs, the sandwich makers, the pet rescuers, the haulers, the laundry people, the bread makers, the firefighters, the army, the community spirit and the gratitude.
The Calgary Folk Music Festival was held, the Stampede went ahead. Celebrities came and worked and sang at fundraising concerts.
The proceeds from the sale of this book go to the Calgary Foundation Flood Rebuilding Fund.
Peggy Freeman is a local freelance books reviewer.