Bring Back The Ark
The rain is coming.
One of my favorite sounds in the world is rain.
It doesn't rain all that often here, but when it does, it can be rather dramatic. Being this close to the mountains causes some unique weather patterns. Giant hail storms that come out of seemingly nowhere happen around once a year, funnel clouds are not uncommon in the summer, and watching far-off lightning while sitting around a campfire is a summer tradition.
If you couple all of those things with something called a snowpack, bad things can sometimes happen.
Nine years ago to the day, Calgary had a one-in-a-100-year flood.
Days of heavy rain caused a larger than normal snowpack to melt rapidly. All of this water flowed down into the rivers and swept through Banff, Canmore, Calgary, and other towns causing a lot of damage. I remember watching the news reports and seeing a small cabin that had been swept into the river be smashed against the underside of a bridge.
Downtown Calgary came to a standstill as buildings flooded and it was deemed not safe to enter the core. South of the city, a smaller town named High River seemed to suffer from the most damage. Parts of the town were evacuated and full neighborhoods were damaged, and even now there are still a lot of flood-damaged homes still standing because no one seems to know what to do with them.
Southern Albertans came together to help those who needed housing and amenities. Groups of friends and companies formed teams that went out into the community to help with cleanups and distribute donations. People in this area are tough and community-minded. The banding together of people was not unusual. The scale of it though was commendable.
Here we sit nine years later, the snowpack is once again larger than normal for this time of year and we are facing up to 150mm of rain over the next few days. The parts are all in play and we can only prepare as best we can and hope that the ground can keep up with the rain that comes and that the water table can handle the soaking.
My question isn't that whatever comes will be handled, it is how it will be handled. Are we as a province able to overcome the divides that we are currently dealing with? Not only politics-wise but just basically able to put aside what we are dealing with when someone who doesn't have the same beliefs as us if they need our help?
Nine years ago, it was rare that people publicly signaled their political beliefs. Canadian flags had not been weaponized, Calvin was still peeing on the Ford symbol in stickers on the back of Chevy's, not on the Prime Minister's name. We were able to recognize that we have different beliefs, but that didn't make us less worthy. We were all going through something together, and we lifted each other up.
As we get through the next couple of days, I guess we will see what happens. I hope for the best though. No floods. If there is one though, let's remember 2013. We got through it because of our community, not despite it.
I am sticking with the low-hanging fruit. It is a little on the nose, but it's also a classic. Rainy Days and Mondays was released by the brother and sister duo The Carpenters in 1971. While not written by The Carpenters, it is one of their hallmark songs. Maybe someday we will get into the tragedy of this band. But not today.
Shopping Corner
Rising: Stories of the 2013 Flood
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