We made our first trip to the city today, after the beautiful week we had in the mountains of British Columbia. We had heard stories from friends and family about the two unusual snow storms that came through Calgary while we were enjoying warm and sunshine days in the mountains (a six-hour drive from home).   

I heard about 3000 public parks that were closed because of the fallen and damaged trees, about the request from the mayor to any citizens of Calgary who have access to trucks, to help with the cleanup and hauling of broken branches and downed trees to the landfill sites. I also read that an estimated 57,000 power customers were without service for several days, and more than two million kilograms (22+ tons) of tree branches and debris have been dumped at city landfills. An additional 33 community drop-off points were intended to take some of the pressure of the filled landfill sites. Because we have not seen any damage in our area, we were assuming that the media were "over-stating" the situation yet again.

Today, I have a better understanding of the situation. As we drove into the city, we got a taste of what happened. Here is a photo I took from the parking lot of my favorit Tim Horton's Coffee. The snow is gone ... the temperature was in the mid 70s today, and there is a lot more work to do!

With winter just around the corner, many dead trees will need to be cut down in the spring. For those of you who live in areas where tornados and floods are a reality, this may seem like no 'big deal', but in our area, we've had to learn about new types of disasters here.

Tags: Weather Damage Trees