Well, well, well I am back. Back to wasting time on the Internet that is. Look no post for almost a year, this is garunteed to be a popular blog indeed with that kind of frequency. No matter. The important thing is I didn't forget my password, which was a definite possibility. Lots has changed, back in Calgary, living on my own, got a new car.
The weather is truely shite in southern Alberta these days. Another 20mm of rain expected today, making this the wettest month on record. Now we get to enjoy farmer's complainng about too much rain. I live right beside the Bow river in Calgary. To avoid floods the city built a massive dike along the river where I live. During the recent floods the water crested about five feet below the top of the dike. The weather people (or staticians perhaps) claim we just had a one hundred or two hundred year flood. That's a pretty big flood, and the dike held. What more can you ask for? I would say that a dike that can withstand a one hundred year flood is about big enough. The city/province has done a pretty good job of containing the Bow, the Bow didn't flood any homes in Calgary that I know of. The Elbow, another river that runs through Calgary is a different story. The Elbow is a special case you see. It is fed by the Glenmore Resivour, where Calgary stores its drinking water. The Elbow drains the resovoir into the Bow. For the first time in history water poured over the top of the damn into the Elbow flooding nearby neighborhoods. Why did the Elbow flood and not the Bow? I must admit I am no civil engineer but I do know that all along the Elbow there are luxury homes. There is no way that the owners of those homes want any dikes obstucting their river views. Therefore, I have very little sympathy when the folks who built close to the river and have ruined homes. What did you think was going to happen. However, I do have sympathy for the folks who live near these luxury homes with no river view who would have had no issues with the city/province building any dikes along that river, they didn't have a choice however. We are then left with the situation where the rich along the river can afford with the help of the government rebuild. What about those who live behind. They will certainly get compensation, but what about aparments? What if an apartment owner takes the compensation and chooses not to rebuild? I guess the tenants are out of luck. Perhaps they could pitch a tent on someone's yard that lives beside the river.
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