I was thinking about what happened in New Orleans today. I sympathize with those affected, and can not imagine what it would be like to lose everything. But as a Winnipegger, I feel I can sympathize with them in a special way, for a few years ago it almost happened here. Except we had warning, and a lot of luck.
It was known as the Flood of the Century. We all remember the Flood of '97. We had a lot of snow in the winter (keep in mind that this is Winnipeg, and a lot of snow is a LOT of snow. Heck, it snowed on May 11 last year), and a couple rainstorms and blizzards in Spring. But snow has to melt. The Red kept rising, and we were all working together, filling sandbags, building dikes, doing what we could to keep the waters out. It brought out the best in us; there was no looting or anything like in New Orleans, although we were never actually hit as bad as them. We were all focused on whether Duff's ditch (the floodway, a flood control system on the Red River) would kee[ the water out. We looked to the south, and were glad we didn't have it as bad as our brothers in Grand Forks, North Dakota. They didn't have the flood control systems we had, and I remember floods and a fire (interesting comination). Now we look to the south and are glad we didn't have it as bad as our brothers in New Orleans back then. For we were lucky. The floodway saved us, the Brunkild Z dike held, and only one part of the city was flooded. That's not to say we didn't have our share of flooded basements, though. We moved all our stuff upstairs or to the garage and bought a bilge pump. But we were lucky. My grandpa made the unfortunate discovery that guitar amps float.
The other day I was in Tim Horton's reading the Free Press. I was proud of the Manitoba government, for a donation of $100,000 for relief for the New Orleans flood. Over my tea, sandwich and donut, I thought of how lucky we were back in '97. We were almost underwater, but thanks to the floodway, we have been saved and Duff Roblin has been vindicated. I saw a letter about floodway expansion, which has been a minor issue as of late. Hopefully it will go forward and it will be worth it (although I hope we never have to use it again. What happened downstream in Grand Forks was awful). I don't want to see anyone go through another New Orleans sized flood, and I really don't want to see my comrades in Winnipeg subjected to that horror.
And that is the end of this braindropping. If you have read it, thank you for keeping up with my barely coherent ramblings for so long.
