Okotoks this morning . . . .

[Cowperson]

I was heading out to the county dump this a.m. when I was diverted around Okotoks due to a highway closure from flooding . . . . so later, after the dump, I came into town from the south and took a few pictures.

Pretty grim . . . . although nature's rampage is mighty impressive.



Downtown Okotoks this a.m., the corner of Main and Main. . . .



Waiting for the floodwaters to recede at the PetroCan



Too early and too late to be bailing . . . .



Watching the power of nature



The playground at the campground still standing in spite of the roaring water.



The mighty Sheep . . . . normally a trickle that has trouble supporting an inner tube.



West of town on Highway 549, the bed of this railroad track is washed out. Further down at the "S" corner, at Tron's parents place, the river went over the highway where those vehicles are.

Apparently some people had to be rescured in Okotoks by helicopter last night after getting themselves stranded during a 2 a.m. walk. And my mother-in-law had a couple of buses lined up outside her seniors residence ready for evacuation at 4 a.m.

The water has crested . . . . but the rain has started up again.

Cowperson

[Regulator75]

Wow, stunning pics Cowperson.

Thanks for posting.

[RougeUnderoos]

Good pictures. That one of the guy baling is just sad. Hopefully its only the slate, marble and granite that get wet. If not then I hope his insurance company gets soaked.

[transplant99]

Simply brutal.

Brings back way to many bad memories. If Okotoks is that bad, i cant imagine how bad High River and Pincher Creek are.

Sad stuff.

[zarrell]

How deep would you say the water was on Main street cowperson?

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by zarrell@Jun 18 2005, 07:22 PM
How deep would you say the water was on Main street cowperson?

Probably about three feet right at the sign there in the first picture . . . . but its a low point. The street elevates the further you go along and Image 2000, the haircutting place further down near the Royal Bank, had water up to the curb.

Dr. Gallup's dentist office just out of the picture to the left had 4.5 feet early this morning when he went in I hear.

The water was much higher in the night and early morning than it shows in the picture from some of the comments the emergency people were making and judging from the water line further up the main drag behind where that picture was taken. Probably three feet higher or so.

Lots of traffic jamming up at Aldersyde service station as roads were closed in the area. Turner Valley at one point last night was apparently cut off completely.

As for High River . . . . well, it sounded like the usual was happening.

Oh . . . the parade in Okotoks was cancelled today.

Cowperson

[flames_1987]

hey guys

I live In Okotoks and let's just say wow! This is brutal, only one store open on mainstreet today, a hair salon!

Basically unless your willing to walk a good 2 miles, the sides of town are seperated since the only car route is now blocked.

[snappyk]

That is absolutly amazing, I walked through that campground last weekend that is nuts. I feel really bad for all the shop owners down there.

[MRCboicgy]

Yah when i came into work today (I work at the Heritage House and the Station for the summer) the Museum was flooded again, so instead of spending my day at the youth festival(which was moved to the triplex) I got to help clean up the flood and man the phones.

It's been a fun couple of weeks working for the Town I tell ya!

[shoestring]

It's supposed to be nice tommorrow so hopefully everybody can take a breather and start cleaning up again. I sure am glad that they added as much height as they have to the Bow banks.

How far is your residence from these raging rivers Cowperson? You okay except for your wet smelly dogs.?
I can smell them from here. Oh wait that is my wet smelly dog! My cat is disgusted with whole affair.Every couple of hours he meows at the front door,looks out and goes to the back door. Then he is poed at me for creating this.

[HOZ]

Hope everything works out fo rthe best and nobody gets killed. I am sorry if there has been a tragedy already, I haven't read anywhere that there has been. Only 1500 evacuees.

BTW: Why doesn't the federal gov't send in the army? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...whooo side hurt! :woot:

[shoestring]

Originally posted by HOZ@Jun 18 2005, 09:55 PM
Hope everything works out fo rthe best and nobody gets killed. I am sorry if there has been a tragedy already, I haven't read anywhere that there has been. Only 1500 evacuees.

BTW: Why doesn't the federal gov't send in the army? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...whooo side hurt! :woot:

They are in Edmonton, ...THEY have a LIbERal!

[Tron_fdc]

Yep, last night was definitely worse than 2 weeks ago in Okotoks. I had a friend whose parents live on the river that had to be evacuated by zodiac at 5AM as the river was peaking. The house is not too badly damaged, but there were a lot of pretty scared people downtown.

My parents place was flooded pretty bad, apparently there was 8 feet of water in the basement. It's almost pumped out now but they were up all night wondering if they should be buying a boat to row all the possessions out of the house before it floated away. All the animals are accounted for though!!!

Crazy for sure, it's got to be the worst flood on record in that area.

[shoestring]

Just don't know what to say Tron_fdc. Glad the folks and buds are safe.
The animals too.

I hope things work out. Keep us posted in case we can do anything.

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by shoestring@Jun 19 2005, 01:06 AM

How far is your residence from these raging rivers Cowperson?

I live west of town and high up on a hill.

All the ice caps in all the world would have to melt before water would be lapping at my doorstep.

The Millarville market was quite a sight last night with a short waterfall hundreds of feet long pouring out into the river, there's a wide flood plain stretching off into the distance on Highway 549 at 96th street and the "river ford" that locals would know about at the Millarville church is pretty awe-inspiring.

Took some pictures but it looks like the modem on my home computer pooched later in the day so . . . . just at the office for a few minutes this a.m.

Cowperson

[tripin_billie]

Wow, my parents were saying how happy they were to move away after hearing about this. But holy crap, that really sucks! Maybe now the town will finally realize that it is getting too large for only one bridge over the sheep.

[FlamesAllTheWay]

What's the situation looking like now? I ask because i'm supposed to be working there tommorow, but if the water level hasn't dropped since the time of those photos then work wont be looking so good...

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by FlamesAllTheWay@Jun 19 2005, 06:33 PM
What's the situation looking like now? I ask because i'm supposed to be working there tommorow, but if the water level hasn't dropped since the time of those photos then work wont be looking so good...

Its all over but the crying.

The water in those photos above receded within a few hours of those pictures being taken although the campground, I think, is still flooded.

Here's the Millarville Market a couple of hours ago . . .



Cowperson

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Wow, unbelievable. Hope the damage isn't too excessive, though based on those photos I think I may be dissapointed. After driving by the Sheep River when it's at it's normal level (as you said, barely able to support an inner tube) I had no idea the flooding could get so bad out there. Pretty amazing.

I sense a fun filled day of moving water pumps and sandbags around tommorow, heheh. Thanks for the update...

[Tron_fdc]

Hey guys, I just got back from the parents place, and by all accounts it was probably one of the hardest hit. I'll post photos tomorrow, and they are pretty amazing (water up to the front porch). We spent the day rebuilding fences, cleaning debris and trying to dry out the basement (which was underwater 2 nights ago).

And yes, cows can swim (found that out 2 nights ago).