Normally when you see a post around here with this kinda of a title you imagine the inside of someone's house being flooded due to a catastrophic tank failure of some sort. Not the case here. In my case the flooding is occurring around me! Thankfully it is not on my immediate property, but the Bow River which flows adjacent to my community (Riverbend) has overflow its banks, engulfed a couple of parks at the end of my block and is now flowing into our sewer system.
Before I continue I really need to say that once again, the outpouring of support on this forum has been tremendous. I made a plea for help after we were evacuated and was inundated with PMs offering all manner of help and support.
Thank you everyone. This is why I've always thought of Canreef as an extended family. We may bicker, disagree and fight on occasion, just like any family, but when it matters we all come together as one.
After we were evacuated late Thursday night we escaped to my sister's place on higher ground. From there I watched the news as the events continued to unfold. By Friday morning I had heard that they had cut the power to our community as a safety measure. Also at this time I had gotten word that my parents were in the process of evacuating so I decided to wait for them to meet up with us so that we could regroup. It took them a very very very very long time to snake their way through the city to get to us. My first concern was to make sure that my parents were OK but needless to say, I was quite aware of the clock that was ticking away.. three hours no power.. four hours no power.. five.. six.. By the time my parents finally made it to my sister's the tank had be out of power for 12 hours. Once I knew all my family members were secure and OK, I decide to set out to see what I could do for the tank.
By the time I hit the road I had already had a list of people I was prepared to call upon to help me out. I was set to give the people with big tanks a call once I reached my house but as I snaked my way through the apocalypse it became clear to me that asking people to leave their homes to come to my house might not be the best idea. Because I lived in an evacuated area near the river many of the roads in my area were either heavily congested, completed closed/blocked, or flooded!
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As I was driving I decided to go the generator route. My route took me past a Canadian Tire so I pulled in to buy one. As I walked into canadian tire I watched helplessly as their last generator rolled out the door. FRAK! I asked the manager if there were any left in the city and he told me that they were in fact expect more to be shipped down from Red Deer within 2 or 3 hours. Good and bad news I suppose. I couldn't wait around at Canadian tire so I set out to continue my journey home.
As I finally rolled up to my house I had mixed feelings. Part of me was relieved to see that my house had not flooded. Part of me feared what I might find in the tank. Sure enough, the lights were out and it was dead quiet. I proceeded to inspect the carnage. No one was swimming around. Two Hawaiian Flame Wrasses were dead on the sanded. The Flame Angel was on his side laying on the sand bed. All tangs were huddled up in a cave, not moving. Clowns were huddled up in there 'hem, barely moving. Water temp was 71 degrees F. Tank had been without power for a little over 12 hours at this point. I knew my first priority was to get some oxygen and flow into the tank. I didn't think the temp was a huge concern at 71. The house fairly warm thank goodness. I grabbed my Grizz Welding LED Flashlight and headed to the basement where I had a fully charged UPS that I use for my home networking equipment. I forgot how heavy that thing was. Nearly dropped it on my foot as I frantically disconnected everything from it in the dark while holding my Grizz Welding LED flashlight in my mouth. I plugged a giant 4" air stone and one powerhead to it and dropped them into the tank. Decided not to plug the heater in because I needed the UPS to last and decided that air and flow was more important at this point. I then set out back to Canadian Tire to try and secure a generator. When I got back to Canadian Tire (3 hours later) they had a mountain of generators in stock so I grabbed one, filled two fuel cans and headed back home.
When I got back home I was happy to see that a few fish were swimming around. Still most unaccounted for but the tank was definitely looking more lively. Tank temp still holding steady at 71/72.
I frantically read through the generators installation manual, filled it with fuel, oil.. frak, I'm out of oil! I drove to my local gas station to get some oil only to find that all their debit and credit card machines were OFFLINE. Pretty much every point of sale system in Riverbend was out so I couldn't even hit up an ATM. This was a bad time to be that guy who prided himself in not ever having to carry cash. Seriously, I never carry cash. Drove back home to get some cash. Wait, we don't have any cash in the house! Remembered that I always had change in my gym bag so I pulled out $10 and headed back to the gas station. Gas station said the oil was $15. What The Actual F#*@?!?! I seriously thought about bartering my wrist watch at that point. It really was the apocalypse.. Thankfully I didn't live terribly far from the gas station so I went back home to scrounge for more change. As a back up plan I had Brett and his Wife dig up some cash for me as well. Thanks bro!! I ended up breaking into my son's piggy bank and yanked out all his quarters and loonies for another $10. On my way back to the gas station for a THIRD time I decide to hit up a different gas station just for a change of scenery. There are two virtually side by side. How much for oil? $6. SIX DOLLARS! What The Actual FRAK?!
The generator was finally up and running by 4pm. I set it on my deck out back and ran an extension cable through my kitchen window.
Plugged in the air stone, a tunze 6105 and a 300 watt heater. This was about half of its load and the manual said it would be good for 8-10hours at this load.
The UPS was still going strong but I decide to take it back to my sister's place to charge up anyway. Damn these things are LOUD. I don't know what the ettiquette is on these sorts of things but I didn't want to leave it running over night. There were at least two neighbours who decided to stay in their homes, and I also didn't want to attract attention over night. I decided that I'd take the generator off line through the night and use the UPS.
I drove back to my sister's place to meet up with the family, have dinner and charge the UPS.
Some flooding pics just around my community.
At around midnight I rolled back to my house to find the power was still out. Our block was pitch black. It was quite eerie. With my trusty Grizz Welding LED flashlight in hand (my mouth actually), I ventured into my dark house to turn off the generator and swap it for the UPS that I had charged. The generator was actually still going with very little fuel left but still going! As I turned off the generator and started to plug in the UPS the power came on at the house. I was a bit startled by all the lights coming on and I may or may not have jumped 10 feet into the air.. I did a quick check of the tank and everyone appeared OK. Still some unaccounted for and it was dark in the tank so couldn't really asses the corals but they didn't appear to be sloughing or sliming.
It's Saturday morning/afternoon now and it appears as though the power is still on at the house. No official word yet about lifted evacuation notices but first hand reports seem to indicate that my community is OK now. Well, aside from the parks down my street that are now under water. I'll be heading there shortly to asses myself.
I want to end this update by saying again how much I appreciate everyone's generous support. We truly do have a special community of people here. Keep on reefin' on Canreef.