Trapped in a Flood

If you read yesterday's post, you would know that I was affected by the Alberta Flooding. It's like nothing I have ever seen before. Although I was stuck in Lake Louise, Lake Louise is definitely not the worst place to be stranded. Lake Louise seemed to be fine but surrounding areas were a mess. Here are a few pictures Paul and I took on our mandatory vacation. 

It all started with a nice visit in Banff with friends. My friend Kailey (right) left Banff that night to make it to work the following morning, little did she know she would be out of a job that morning. The entire golf course she worked at in Kananakis, Alberta was destroyed by the flooding. She was stranded for five days without food, power, cell reception or water. The military had to build a temporary bridge for the people to leave.

This is a picture of some flooding on the highway from Banff to Lake Louise. The highway was closed the majority of the day on Thursday but opened up on Thursday night. It closed again as soon as Paul and I arrived in Lake Louise later that evening. 

Eager to make it to work the following day (since I took a week off after the passing of my Grandma) we were welcomed with another closed off highway to Jasper. There were multiple mudslides on the highway and we were stuck in Lake Louise for an additional three nights until they cleaned up the mudslides. 

Everyday we would check this board at least ten times hoping for the highway to be open. 

If we were going to be stranded we had to eat! The Chateau Lake Louise was actually running low on food because they couldn't receive any food deliveries. Paul and I were very lucky to be where we were, we felt guilty for how beautiful Lake Louise was while everyone surrounding us was suffering.

They upgraded our room the second night and we got two views. Look at this view! I couldn't believe how we were going from literally something that looked like an apocalypse to this. 

 We were able to go on a canoe ride. The water is absolutely stunning. PS don't canoe with Paul, he doesn't listen to you if you are the steerer. 

 Paul made me hike an entire mountain in a dress and flats. A four hour hike up without water, sunscreen or my puffer. I almost slipped down the mountain a few times, and almost fainted.. But I was definitely the best dressed at the top of the mountain. 

Although Paul and I missed a few days at work, we didn't suffer even a fraction as some of the Albertans we know. I would like to send my condolences to the people deeply affected from the floodings and I hope everything will get back to normal as soon as possible. It's just absolutely crazy how you could be in a beautiful village and everything surrounding you is destroyed.