Canmore Flood of Cougar Creek 2013

June 23, 2013 by Bill Rowe ·

Woke up on June 20th morning to no power and no idea what was happening just a block away on Cougar Creek. Power was on and off all morning.The rain was still pouring down as it had all night. Strange to be watching a disaster happening in your own back yard and having to watch it through social media the same as friends and family who in some cases were thousands of miles away. By 1:00pm the rain eased up and stopped for a couple of hours but the news we were getting was to evacuate the area east of Cougar Creek. I walked down to the Public Works Yard where they had busses to take us out over the bridge at the top of the creek,no cars allowed. They confirmed it was a mandatory evacuation as the bridge could wash away and we would be trapped. Hwy # 1 was already impassable as well as our other route out Hwy # 1A. Evacuation went very orderly and took us to the high school in Canmore. Unfortunately cell phone coverage was down but we managed to make a call to our neighbours parents home and they gratefully put us up for two nights. We cannot thank them enough for their kindness. It is now Sunday June 23rd and we got back home late Sat afternoon.We still have no gas so no heating or hot water and the water has to be boiled but that’s just fine.

Update Sunday 23rd 1:00 pm Gas back on so just the boil water advisory.

Road between Canmore and Banff is open to local residents east side only as Carrot Creek is washed out going west bound. Road to Calgary is open to leave but I believe you can only get back if you are a resident.