Ground Report

“In an instant, it was as if we were suddenly cut off from the rest of the world.”

Ted Bilton, resident of Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada in Banff National Park west of Calgary in the Canadian Rockies, talks about the torrential 48 hour rainfall that led to the closure of the Trans Canada Highway, Canada’s main east to west thoroughfare, and other travel routes in the mountains and foothills of the Canadian Rockies.

“There are only a few travel routes in and through Banff National Park and its bordering areas, and three of four of those roads were closed due to a heavy rainfall washing out the highway or creating mudslides that covered the roads.  Thank goodness the road to the west of us remained opened or we may have been stranded!”

The areas around Calgary received the equivalent of six months of rainfall in just a 48 hours period.  Rivers burst their banks, the ground became water-logged and created mudslides, and roads were flooded or washed out. 1 in 10 people in the city of Calgary, home to over 1 million residents were ordered to evacuate their homes, and the surrounding communities of Canmore, High River, Morley and Bragg Creek all felt full impact of the unprecedented rainfall and water levels.  Residents in Canmore were wakened at 2am and told they had 10 minutes to evacuate their homes.

Banff National Park and the mountain towns of Banff, Lake Louise and Canmore, are all international tourist destinations.  Over 2.2 million people visit Canada’s first national park annually.  Tourism is the economic lifeblood of the region.  On what was meant to be one of the busiest weekends of the summer, Canada Day on July 1^st, reservations were also washed away by the rising waters.

“We went from 95% occupancy to 25% in about 36 hours”, said Jack Pedersen, owner of Paradise Lodge and Bungalows in Lake Louise.  “People wanted to come, but they simply couldn’t get to us very easily.”

But great news has just been announced for the residents, visitors and businesses in the affected area.

“The Trans Canada Highway is now open to all traffic in both directions, and it is anticipated that four lanes of traffic will be open soon”, Bilton, who ironically is the owner of a whitewater rafting company,  reports.  “Our authorities and work crews have done a tremendous amount of work in getting the roads open and safe for travel.  It’s been and extraordinary team effort and it is remarkable how much they have accomplished.”

“Once the re-opening of the highway was announced, the phones started ringing again with people re-booking or making plans to come to the area.”

Transport trucks, buses loaded with picture-snapping tourists, locals visiting friends and thousands of vacationers are all moving freely around the area and enjoying its world-class scenery, accommodations and activities once again.

Travel is once again unencumbered and it is “business as usual” in Banff National Park.