Well, I came to Sled Island for the music, and all I got was a massive flood.
I’m sitting here at my buddy K-Money’s house, up on the hill just off 17th Ave and 24th St, high and relatively dry, but over 100,000 people are evacuated from Calgary’s downtown core. I came here to cover a music festival, and currently, my coworkers’ bicycles are about six feet underwater. This is the craziest shit I have ever seen.
The water was rising yesterday, and we were partying at the East Village park, when the City of Calgary shut the party down. As we were there, I saw the river rise at least a foot, and full trees ram into a bridge under construction. Now that bridge is completely fucked.
Luckily, we only have to drive east tomorrow (or whenever we are allowed to leave), because the Trans Canada Highway headed west is completely under water. Deep Dark Woods, whom I was supposed to interview and watch today, have been stuck in Canmore for the past two days.
The sheer amount of property damage is astonishing, not to mention the personal trauma. Yesterday, hammering booze back in a bar where people were dressed in lifejackets, I watched a house flow under a bridge. Thousands of homes are underwater, and more water is coming.
People all across southern Alberta are being warned to “stay away from creeks and rivers.” The Elbow River may have crested, but so far the Bow has not. The amount of water coming Calgary’s way is scary as fuck.
As I mentioned, the Albatross Calgary HQ is on high ground, and we are in no danger of flooding. But our power may be shut off at any minute. I’m headed right fucking now to the liquor store, to secure cold beer before the switch is flicked. There is a Flood Party going down a couple blocks from here. We will be there, friends, if the Good Lord’s willing and the creek don’t rise no more. God speed, friends.