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There's flood-like conditions in Winnipeg at the moment. Not much danger locally, thank goodness, but still, I wonder if ducks' nests have been destroyed by all the rising water levels.
Winnipeg is built around the intersection of two rivers. The Red River, which flows north, and the smaller Assiniboine River which flows east until it joins the Red.
Each Spring, the water levels get quite high from all the melted snow running into the rivers. In 1997, there was a major flood threat. Volunteers and the army were called in, and a lot of the locals laid down sandbags. If not for these preparations, Winnipeg wouldn't have escaped the flood - it was a close call. Afterwards, the city built "the floodway", a series of dry moats to divert floodwaters. (This all happened long before I moved here, in case I've gotten the facts wrong.)
This Spring and early summer we've had so much rain that we've matched the record levels again. The floodway is helping. Now, instead of entire neighbourhoods in danger, it's only about 100 houses. Other parts of the province, however, have already had serious damage and evacuations.
My original idea was to take some photos, wait for the water levels to drop, take some more photos, and then do a before-and-after comparison. Instead, the water levels rose even higher! Gaaah. So here's... well, you'll see.
In front of our lovely legislature building there's a little park. Steps lead down to the Assiniboine River, and there's a gravel path that goes right along the river's edge. That path is so low that even during the Spring thaw it's not generally accessible. But this... this is ridiculous.
That photo was taken two weeks ago. There's supposed to be a large, semi-circular space extending as far out as that cement thing sticking out of the water on the far right. (There are two ducks sitting on it.) But now, two weeks later, that cement thing can't be seen. The water hasn't gone over that top step yet, but it's pretty darn close.
When I ride my bicycle to work, I take it through this area. I have to cross a very busy street, and there are no traffic lights at the river - but there's a path that goes under the bridge. Here's a photo that was taken under the bridge two weeks ago. I apologize that there's nothing here to indicate scale.
And now, two weeks later, I can't even go under the bridge! The yellow stripes are gone and the water is almost at the edge of the red stripes. I'm guessing that must represent the 1997 record.
After the bridge, I bike west for a about another 3 or 4 km until I come to another park. In this park, a stream flows south into the Assiniboine. I ride down a medium-sized slope (a rare thing in the prairies) and cross a little footbridge. Here's a photo that I took last year.
Isn't that nice? That was taken in mid-September. The water levels are quite low at that time of year. There's a sort of pond area, and then the water flows over a cement... thing, and joins the Assiniboine River.
Two weeks ago, here's what the footbridge looked like. I don't know what happened to the orange paint. Note the park bench on the far right; the water was just touching it.
Here's the same footbridge on the same day, but viewed from up the slope. As you can see, that shallow trickle of water flowing over the cement thing into the river (beyond the bridge) is now substantially wider and higher.
Two weeks later, I can't even get all the way down the slope any more.
Consequently, I can't take photos from the same spots as before. Here's looking up the stream, at the footbridge and the park bench. I know they're there, somewhere... but now they're completely submerged.
Okay, back up the slope.
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
It's at times like this that one's puniness in the face of Nature makes itself known. If a guy pushes you over, you can blame his actions on his behaviour and push him back. But water... water just IS. It's there. You can't really do much about it. In the words of the two six-year-olds who arrived on their bikes as I was taking photos, "Whoa!..."
Current Mood: 
impressed
