This photo is the aftermath of the river through town flooding. It ripped the CP rail line right out of the ground. This was a no longer used section, but iconic as it ran through downtown. I just found it after going through old images. My wife and I plus my sister and her family were lucky enough to make it out of town.
Wow, there must have been some force to that current. Rails and ties are not lightweight materials. Certainly glad to hear that you and your family escaped the flood.
Ouch. That was nasty. Good thing the track was disused, but not for anyone else. This is getting town renovation the hard way!
For those of you who didn't hear, that was the worst flood we've ever had. High River got the worst of it, so much of the town was under so much water. Calgary itself was shut down for almost 2 weeks. Here's another rail-related image that became quite famous. http://www.netnewsledger.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/calgary-lrt.jpg Also attached: Bridges on the CP mainline, loaded with boxcars so they won't be taken away. Fortunately, the CP mainline was only washed away in a few places and was up and running within a week or so. One more bit of drama: An old, established community in Calgary is evacuated. It hadn't flooded like this before, save for ice jams, and the water would rise over the lights of the police car before the end of the next day. The river was well within its banks the morning of the photo. Well, we all got through it. 4 deaths, so, so much of the city evacuated. Despite the speed at which the water rose, everything went as smoothly as you could wish for, and with pretty well the entire city helping to clean up, you wouldn't even be able to tell how many streets were covered with flood mud, a mixture of river silt and sewage (yuck!) a month later. Crazy times. Damn crazy times.
