Flooding in Calgary and Banff

Crossing the border was a painless experience.  Breland says that keying our passports into the border computers must come up with "Boring Old People".  We don't carry alcohol, tobacco or firearms and have all of our papers ready.  It took less than a minute to stop and be waved on.  Despite the weather reports the drive was pleasant, only slightly overcast.  We drove through a hundred miles of cattle country, rolling pastures and barns as far as the eye could see.  

The freeway ran right through Calgary.  I wish I could figure out a way to get around that city.  There's always a lot of traffic and a light rain was falling.  Breland handled the frequent stops well. 

The rain got heavier as we rode toward Banff.  The only wildlife we saw along the way were several coyotes. 

The Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court is one of the many national campgrounds in the Banff area.  We pulled in and were given our choice of a back-in in the full hookup area or a pull-through water and electric only.  We chose the pull-through for three nights.

That turned out to be a mistake.  It rained all night and the next day and by noon we found all that we couldn't go anywhere for a while.  The Trans-Canada highway, the only route through Banff, had washed out in several places on both sides of Banff.  An unprecedented amount of rain mingled with the melting snow and flooded rivers to Calgary and Lethridge and back to Crowsnest Pass.    The rivers were roaring and there were slides that blocked the roads.  18 communities were evacuated by the night of June 20. 

We went into town and I was struck by the large number of tour buses in town.  All of those people were stuck here with us.  It is Thursday and the rains are supposed to continue until Saturday.  The Spray River runs through town and is out of it's banks already.  I wonder if the town of Banff will begin to flood.  We are camped on a hill right in between two large mountains.  I feel that we are relatively safe.  The ranger at the entrance to the campground told us we will be informed right away if Banff floods.

We came into town again today, Friday June 21, to post. It is still raining.   The town is showing more signs of flooding.  The water is only one half block away from the library.  A road toward Vancouver has been opened and is the only one out of town.  We may extend longer here in hopes that the Icefield Parkway will open soon that we can continue our journey north.
Today might be a good day to stock up with milk and bread.  We have a month's worth of food in the motorhome, a very full tank of diesel and a fair amount of propane.  The campground has 30 watt hookups so we have been able to run the electric heaters instead of propane.  We will be warm, dry and comfortable.  I am just anxious to continue our trip north!