Saturday, June 22 - Day 3. Today I walked to Prince's Island, then into Chinatown, through a deserted downtown to the Central Library, and then along the north side of the river to the Zoo. Saw a Chinatown shop keeper attempting to hand bail water out of his store.
Prince's Island was pretty securely taped off and manned by police. I got a warning siren when I tried crossing tape that blocked off a small swamped field near the bike path just east of Eau Claire Market. A couple days ago a photographer posted photos of a swamped Prince's Island. I can only assume that it is much, much worse now.
Walking through downtown was kind of like being in a sci-fi movie after the aliens have landed and taken over the Earth. There were a few explorers like me, some military and police personnel, but for the most part it was deserted near East Village. Lots of debris and mud were everywhere. Some areas were still flooded. When I went to the Central Library I found a large office space for lease sign propped up in front of the main entrance. Don't know if it was put there or floated there. Chatted with a Library person who told me the basement had chest high water that couldn't be pumped out yet, because there was no place for the water to go. The water table is saturated. While shooting a photo of the lake on 3rd Street a couple told me they saw a guy walk through it the day before and the water was up to his chest. Today military vehicles (who I suspect were escorting Prime Minister Harper around) drove through it. The water came only up to the wheel wells.
A friend of mine was concerned about conditions at the Zoo, so I wandered there next. Before I reached the Zoo; however, I came across four ATCO trailers down river from the St Patrick Island Bridge construction site.
They probably would have gone further, but they were hung up on the large trees that used to be St. Patrick Island. When I got to the Zoo I found the south side parking lot submerged and, from what I could see from the fence, most of the Zoo is deep with water, as well. Saw a couple of deer/goat critters standing on the highest part of their enclosure. At the south entrance, near the bridge that goes into Inglewood, I met a fellow from Bangladesh who told me floods like this happen every year where he's from. He asked if I was born in Calgary and what I thought about the flood. During the flood of 2005 I was on vacation in Seattle, so I've never experienced anything like this before. "I'm in awe," I told him. Granted, I would probably feel different if my home was one of the ones flooded out. A young fellow joined in our conversation. He said he was having fun. I asked if he lived in the flood plain. He said no, but that he had lots of refugees at his place. "Party!"
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