Calgary flooding

[WallysWorld]

RCMP in High River have gone into people's homes, taken their guns and locked them away in a supposedly safe location.  I don't know if I agree or disagree with this move.


"The Mounties scoop "a large quantity of firearms" from homes in the near ghost town of High River while the population is kept out under an evacuation order. The guns are now in the local cop shop and can be picked up when the proof of ownership is produced."

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/06/27/temperature-rises-over-mounties-firearms-seizures-from-homes-in-evacuated-high-river

"The RCMP also revealed Thursday that officers had seized a "substantial" number of firearms from homes in the evacuated town.
The news angered many residents who wondered why police had the right to enter residents' homes and take belongings. Sgt. Brian Topham responded the move was made for the sake of safety."

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/high-river-evacuees-to-learn-when-they-may-return-home-1.1345511#ixzz2XWhEPtnL

[LongBlade]

Hoo boy.

[Barthheart]

RCMP might have been tipped off that baddies were going looking for easy guns.... ???

[Windigo]

For clarification, they only took firearms that were obviously improperly stored. Gun laws are very clear that they need to be locked up and a trigger lock used during transportation. They also did not go into the homes for the purpose of finding firearms, rather for SAR purposes. If they saw an unsafe firearm... they took it. Dumb fucking rednecks

[LongBlade]

Perhaps when things quiet down they can come down here and help some of our folks out...  ::)

The U.S. Park Police has lost track of a huge supply of handguns, rifles and shotguns, according to a report released Thursday on the law enforcement agency responsible for safeguarding the National Mall and critical American landmarks.

In the scathing report, the inspector general's office of the Department of Interior faults staff at the agency for having no idea how many weapons they control and says the department has no clear policies or procedures for investigating missing weapons. The office said top managers, including the police chief, have shown a "lackadaisical attitude toward firearms management."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/28/us-park-police-lost-track-huge-supply-weapons-report-says/

[Arctic Blast]

For clarification, they only took firearms that were obviously improperly stored. Gun laws are very clear that they need to be locked up and a trigger lock used during transportation. They also did not go into the homes for the purpose of finding firearms, rather for SAR purposes. If they saw an unsafe firearm... they took it. Dumb fucking rednecks

Pretty much this. Of course, the usual lunatic fringe is now selling this as the government Gestapo (direct quote) punishing High River for voting in someone from a different party, while also locking down a police state (again, actual quote). As for why the cops are going door to door, they and other rescue workers have been pulling pets that had to be left behind out of houses to be transported to animal shelters. They're also playing wack-a-mole with a few hundred idiots who have refused to leave. If they see a gun out, they're grabbing it and taking it to the police station. Now, a legit question that has yet to be answered is how people prove which guns they own. Chances are good that at least a few sets of papers are currently flooded out.

The bad part of it is that the High River municipal government has done an absolutely piss poor job of disseminating information and running the rebuild. The province finally took over today, and it's probably overdue. Comparisons between the job done by Calgary's mayor (honestly, nobody is likely to even bother running against him next election) and High River's mayor (dead man walking) make it even worse. So tempers were already flaring.

They finally have a staggered return being put together for residents, but it isn't going to be fast. The SouthEast corner of the town is still awash. That's where my sister and the brood live. Current estimate for their return : 3-5 WEEKS.

[Staggerwing]

They finally have a staggered return being put together for residents, but it isn't going to be fast. The SouthEast corner of the town is still awash. That's where my sister and the brood live. Current estimate for their return : 3-5 WEEKS.

Damn.
That's a lot of Wiggles re-runs...

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

For clarification, they only took firearms that were obviously improperly stored. Gun laws are very clear that they need to be locked up and a trigger lock used during transportation. They also did not go into the homes for the purpose of finding firearms, rather for SAR purposes. If they saw an unsafe firearm... they took it. Dumb fucking rednecks

Pretty much this. Of course, the usual lunatic fringe is now selling this as the government Gestapo (direct quote) punishing High River for voting in someone from a different party, while also locking down a police state (again, actual quote). As for why the cops are going door to door, they and other rescue workers have been pulling pets that had to be left behind out of houses to be transported to animal shelters. They're also playing wack-a-mole with a few hundred idiots who have refused to leave. If they see a gun out, they're grabbing it and taking it to the police station. Now, a legit question that has yet to be answered is how people prove which guns they own. Chances are good that at least a few sets of papers are currently flooded out.

The bad part of it is that the High River municipal government has done an absolutely piss poor job of disseminating information and running the rebuild. The province finally took over today, and it's probably overdue. Comparisons between the job done by Calgary's mayor (honestly, nobody is likely to even bother running against him next election) and High River's mayor (dead man walking) make it even worse. So tempers were already flaring.

They finally have a staggered return being put together for residents, but it isn't going to be fast. The SouthEast corner of the town is still awash. That's where my sister and the brood live. Current estimate for their return : 3-5 WEEKS.

3-5 weeks is pretty extreme. Life on hold for a month? Not good. Just to be devil's advocate for a second it is possible that after Calgary sucked all the first responders, they moved on to the other big cities down river.

As for the idiots that refuse to leave, maybe they dont like the RCMP riving their panty drawer. J/K :P Some people may actually have a disaster safe home. Rounding them up is wrong.

I have mixed feelings about them seizing property.  Clearly SAR can be used as a pretext to have a raid on absolutely everyone in a town. Not that I have a problem with them seizing drugs or illegal guns. I am quite happy they do it. I just wish it was not under false pretense.

So yeah, I expect local city council to be soon unemployed.

[Arctic Blast]

One of the claims that has been made repeatedly against the Mayor is that the municipal government of High River repeatedly turned down offers of heavy equipment and people who know what they're doing when it comes to disaster relief, telling people "No, we got this." If that now turns out to be true...yikes. The Mayor might not be replaced, he might by lynched.

[LongBlade]

One of the claims that has been made repeatedly against the Mayor is that the municipal government of High River repeatedly turned down offers of heavy equipment and people who know what they're doing when it comes to disaster relief, telling people "No, we got this." If that now turns out to be true...yikes. The Mayor might not be replaced, he might by lynched.

IIRC that's what happened with NOLA and the former governor of Louisiana. :/

[Windigo]

One of the claims that has been made repeatedly against the Mayor is that the municipal government of High River repeatedly turned down offers of heavy equipment and people who know what they're doing when it comes to disaster relief, telling people "No, we got this." If that now turns out to be true...yikes. The Mayor might not be replaced, he might by lynched.

if you look at the physical topography of high river.... right smack in the middle of the flood plain. They didn't just get hit hard by flooding the got massacred

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

One of the claims that has been made repeatedly against the Mayor is that the municipal government of High River repeatedly turned down offers of heavy equipment and people who know what they're doing when it comes to disaster relief, telling people "No, we got this." If that now turns out to be true...yikes. The Mayor might not be replaced, he might by lynched.

if you look at the physical topography of high river.... right smack in the middle of the flood plain. They didn't just get hit hard by flooding the got massacred

Here we go, this will be one of those revolving door towns like in the Mississippi delta where people are just too stubborn to pack up and move the town. Especially if the Government is footing the bill each time. Watch, this will be the same shit every 5 years.

[Arctic Blast]

This is rapidly descending in to absolute gong show territory.

The first residents were allowed back, but with restrictions of two people and two contractors per house. No explanation for these limits, since every other flooded community has encouraged more help and volunteers with plenty of success. And the limit wasn't publicized prior to people arriving, meaning they were actually turning away family and volunteers at the town entry point.

So then people start their tear-out, only to learn that no garbage plan has been put in place. What the Hell everyone has been doing for the last week and a half that they were too busy to plan is beyond me. Finally, a plan has been created today. But they didn't supply homeowners with some of the supplies that were supposed to be handed out, meaning gigantic sopping piles of contaminated drywall, insulation, baseboard, flooring and carpet are just lying in heaps all over the place.

The town is proudly announcing that they're pumping out 40,000 gallons a minute...without any total amount to pump that would put that rate in to context. They're doing it by district, which is fine (and the only way to keep the water from just backflowing in to another neighborhood). But they're refusing extra pumps, and they're again not explaining why. As you can imagine, this isn't sitting well with folks being told they can maybe come back in 3 weeks. Really, if this ends up at the 5 week mark, every single structure in those parts of town will be so contaminated with mold that they may as well just crank up the bulldozers. And speaking of that, announced today is that temporary housing will be put up in Calgary. Of course, they forgot to announce how anyone can get their name on the list to get in to that housing.

Everything is just being thrown together with absolutely no planning or thought invested. The town put nothing in place, then they handed it off to the province, and they're flailing around instead of organizing. It's an absolute mess.

And the media, who are completely barred from the town, aren't doing anything either. Sources on Twitter are the ones basically forcing the town and province to hand out actual information while the media focuses on the 'They took our guns!' part. Are there questions to be asked there? Yes. But how about spending some time on the fact that two thirds of the damn town IS STILL FLOODED, no information is being delivered, and nobody seems to know what is going on? Oh, that's right, that would be difficult and require you to actually do your jobs.  >:(

[Staggerwing]

When was the last time there was this kind of flooding in these neighborhoods? Did they even exist then?

[Arctic Blast]

When was the last time there was this kind of flooding in these neighborhoods? Did they even exist then?

Every few years, flooding in High River will consist of the river rising to the point that the bridge is closed, essentially cutting the town in half. But anything beyond that is very small scale.