Asked — Edited

Ez-Robot Evacuated

You may have seen this on our office cam... User-inserted image

Well, we had to leave because of this... User-inserted image

Here is a good summary video.. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10152915137815526" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0"></iframe>

It came out of no where. There has been a lot of rain lately. Where we are situated is at the base of the Rocky Mountains. There is a river called The Bow which is a glacier runoff of beautiful clean water from the Rocky's. The river is also fed by a few other rivers and lakes from north and west of the city.

This is what Calgary normally looks like... User-inserted image

Yesterday we were aware that the river had risen quite a bit. Alan and I were preparing to go to the gym when an officer came to our office and handed us an evacuation notice. There are a few dams up stream from Calgary that are unable to hold the water back any longer. They will be opening the damn and there was a concern that the city would flood.

Well, they were right... and no one expected what had happened.

I woke up this morning to this... Here is a short video from my iphone of in front of my house, and next to our office. My home currently has intermittent electricity, no gas, no hot water, no heat, and no drinkable water. Sirens are on constantly as fire trucks and police patrol the city.

We live in a beautiful city. I'm so grateful to watch the entire city work together. As homes are evacuated, everyone is offering couches to sleep on. With hundreds of thousands of people without a home and many without power, there have been no casualties. I'm very proud of our city!

Here are some photos that I had taken today near my home.

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The Canadian Geese are happy:) User-inserted image

This is a very sad part. It's entirely emotional and hurts my heart. There is a great deal of destruction everywhere, however... This is the "stampede grounds". Also home of our NHL hockey arena for the Calgary Flames. The arena and grounds include historical material, such as trophies, jerseys, certificates and more. Generally, a long list of athletic records and awards. The arena (Saddledome) is currently filled with water up to the 10th row! All electronics, jumbo-tron and more are destroyed.

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Now... here's facebook pics from other sources...

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Here's some news sources with videos:

  • http://globalnews.ca/news/661628/aerial-analysis-of-flooding-in-the-calgary-area/
  • http://bizboxtv.com/calgary-flooding-2013-flood-pictures-video/


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#1  

WOW it looks so very bad,hope you and your family is ok and nobody got hurt,thats the main thing. Stuff can always get replaced or fixed.

Canada is still the one of the best countries to visit.

#2  

This is very sad DJ. My prayers are with you and all in your city. Their is nothing good abo:ut a flood other than people coming together to help each other. I hope you and the ones you care about come through this OK.

#3  

I know there's nothing anyone can say to fix it , but Calgary is in our prayers man.

#4  

Time to work on an EZ-B Boat :)

#5  

@putt putt too soon man , too soon

#6  

I use humor to cover my stress, works for me and more people should try it, no ill will intended on my part :)

#7  

Well DJ, on the bright side your Flames were due for a new Cup Holder anyway;) Maybe next year will be the start of an inspired NHL dynasty for you guys. On a more serious side, I'm glad to hear no one was hurt. My best wishes and thoughts are with you and your fair city.

PRO
Synthiam
#8  

Thanks everyone. We're in good spirits:) lori just stopped by my house and we had a drink and chatted. It's going to be getting worse, but everyone is helping out! that's what matters most.

Here's a new video that summarizes the city. Just so everyone knows, I live in the south side IN the flood. My house is on a hill and at the bottom of the hill the streets are now a lake. It's just absolutely insane to imagine the force of mother nature! geeeeeeeeeez whiz :)

<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=10152915137815526" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0"></iframe>

United Kingdom
#9  

Wow that's bad. Do not upset mother nature.

At least you are up a hill, you really don't want to be playing in that "water", it's diluted sewage at the end of the day. I hope it all gets sorted out quickly and the injuries (and worse) are minimal. Buildings can be fixed, people not so much.

Is the new shop in a flooded area? I hope it doesn't take too much damage after all the hard work put in getting it to look as great as it does.

PRO
Synthiam
#10  

new shop is in the flood, yeah. I can't get to it right now to see what the damage is. Hopefully tomorrow...

it's not bad at my house right now - electricity is sketchy and no gas (so no hot water, or heat). But other than that i'm at least allowed to stay here :D

#11  

How are you and others able to get drinking water?

PRO
USA
#12  

OMG DJ, that is amazing pictures and video. Our hearts go out to those in the path of the flood. Let us know how things are going moment by moment, so we all know how its going. When do they think the flood will crest?

#13  

Hopefully the shop didn't get more than 3ft looks like you had most everything but room a and omni on the floor.

#14  

Oh boy DJ, I just heard about Calgary on the news. I immediately thought of you and EZ Robot and logged in to see your photos and your posts. So sorry to hear about the mess that you and your business and your city is in right now. Horrible. Please stay safe and well. Please check in every so often so we know you are OK.

Thomas M.

#15  

Oh no! That really is aweful!

#16  

Good Luck,D.J., we are all praying for you.

;)

#17  

hope you are OK DJ

#19  

God, that reminds me of New Orleans and the US Gulf Coast during and after Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. However this looks even worse! I was a involved in all that and saw the best and worst of people come out of themselves. It's 7 years later and they are still dealing with the clean up. Best wishes for your city. I'm confident that the Canadian people have what it takes to pull together and move through this sad event. Rebuilding and clean up will be hard but your country is filled with compassionate, tough and hard working people.

When are the waters expected to recede? Any talk of needed help from outside Canada or do you guys got it covered?

#20  

apparently the military has dispatched a fair bit of troops to help. I think it's under control so far. anyone who owns a construction machine has been at work helping.

Source: new reports.

fingers crossed that some robots survive. As long as everyone is safe, ez-robot will be able to get through even tougher problems than flooding. with a supporting community of this scale, people who are in New Zealand for example that only found out via this forum are strongly supporting. No matter what hits ez-robot, we will all be able to get through it, even the hardest hit, because we're like a big, supportive, robot obsessed, family.

#21  

Hey, crazy idea coming to me.... mmmmhmmmmm... yes.... OK!

DJ, is there any way you could turn the office cameras on from your house? I know that power is an issue, but could it be possible? that way we could survey the damage.

PRO
Synthiam
#22  

Cameras and computers require power

#23  

Technopro, that sounds a bit morbid. Why gool over someones loss? DJ has shown lots of pictures and the news has covered the damage in the area very well. I'm sure DJ does not want his inversors, customers and friends seeing any problems (if any).

#24  

i'm afraid I never thought about it this way. sorry about that.

I guess your right about the power DJ.

#25  

Hey, i want to see the carnage, who doesn't, that's why we have NEWS so to see it from them is second hand, i like Technopro's idea of looking at camera's but yes there is the camera issue and computer issue needing power, another but thou, i have cams in my home that send me pics every minute of the day with battery backup and other than being under water or destroyed they are always on.

I would have thought that some of you guys building robots would be leaning to the preservation and monitoring side of robotics ...like water proofing, battery backup, robust housing and my biggie , never have to turn my bot off, backups of the backups. :)

o and I never intend, cause or like ill will to anyone and sympathize with all people of our planet that have woes but as you might have noticed I am a very realistic person and believe that all things happen for us to learn from like , DJ should consider selling that location and build the next office on higher ground because that area IS going to flood again!

#26  

Well, watching a friend or someone you look up to go through something like this in "real time" just makes me feel helpless and sad. To sit back and watch seems wrong. Being realistic is one thing but to get a thrill out it is anouther. I hope being realistic also includes doing something to help. tired

#27  

I'm not going to belabor the subject of right and wrong, not once did anyone here say they were getting a thrill out of it you feel very passionate about your feelings but and have expressed them , a few other people have expressed their opinions also and then get some big lecture about it.

Thank God we are not all the same or better yet like ROBOTS! :)

i'm done...............

#28  

I too believe there is enough videos of the flooding from many many sources to give everyone an idea what is happening without having DJ set up more cameras! :)

#29  

Lecture? Yes, maybe I am trying to lecture. Truly, this is something I don't usually do but maybe someone needs to speak up for social compassion and grace. Sadly we seem to live in a graceless age where what we want and our entertainment is more important then what the other guy is going through. That's what you you guys are asking for isn't it? You want to be entertained by seeing the live "carnage" in the office that DJ put so much hard work and time into to get opened? This thread that DJ started has sparked a few deep emotions and issues that are close to me; loss by tragedy and the trend by society to ignore other peoples feelings. I have the same freedom to express my opinion on this topic as others do when they want to see the live "Carnage" of other peoples lives and hard work.

PRO
Synthiam
#30  

Don't worry - I would have had the cameras on if there was power for my own personal interest. :)

I'm very confident that our office is going to be alright. Our office is in the flooded area, but I don't think the water will reach it, magically. We may be really, really, really lucky...

From this post today: http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2013/06/22/military-comes-to-the-rescue-of-new-threat-to-inglewood/

It looks like the flood area in red will continue to miss our office by a tiny little bit. I'm confident the army's placement of concrete barriers will divert the water before it raises much higher in our area. I know it has flooded to the back door, and today it seems to have gone down. Tonight will be the big test!

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#31  

Sweet DJ that is good to hear! I hope the robots are safe :D

#32  

I agree whole heartedly with dschulpius! I would express my own experience with hurricane Andrew and dealings with people like Putt Putt but I wouldnt want to detract from the loss and aggravation that DJ is going through. I sympathize with you DJ.

#33  

Please don't get me wrong. I don't think Put Put is a bad guy at all. I respect his insight, contributions to this forum and work he's done. It's the lesions that society are teaching and the way people are following them.

Thanks God your dream is not going to be damaged DJ!

#34  

Well I am on both sides of the fence. I wouldn't mind seeing the office "right now" just to see it. Not for entertainment but for other entirely selfish reasons. Ya see, EZ Robot makes and supports my latest hobby and passion so EZ Robot hurting is in turn, hurting me. If I cut myself, I look to see how bad it is, not because of how awesome it may look on you tube but, because I want to know how bad it is. I'm anxious to buy ez bits and build a bi-ped. It was already having delays due to the 3d printer. Now a flood! And I know they are as anxious to make those parts available as I am to get them so we feel a kindred pain. I do feel bad for the city as a whole.

And like Putt Putt, I too like to watch the it do down. If you see a bad thing happen enough you're more prepared to handle it. There's been at least 2 times in my life where I've had the opportunity to freeze and die or move and live and I just went into what you could call "Movie Mode".

As for lecturing? You carry on brother Dave. You've every right to your opinion. And I'll be honest I agree with you on the lack of social decency and general grace. I know they say "judge not", but what is judging but a comparison against a standard? And without standards you have no quality. Feel free to judge me, I know I'm flawed. But I don't gloat when I'm right and I own up to my mistakes. Because mistakes are just bricks in the road of learning.

That was my lecture. Thanks for putting up with me. Thanks for being the best internet community I've ever been involved with.

#35  

Well put Antron007! Glad to hear there are still people like you both.

#36  

Ya, I gotta admit. I do slow down on the highway and look at the bad accident. I think it's human. However, I think it's important to try to be better then that. confused

PRO
Synthiam
#37  

Well this is good news...

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Canada
#39  

Knowing Calgary bylaw they will probably get a parking ticket. :D

#40  

LOL! Nothing like a boat in a flood and no water to float it in!

#41  

OK the boat parked in the street hilarious. Lol

#42  

Good news about that is it means the waters are receding.

Alan

#43  

and Noahs boat landed on Mt Ararat!....this boat is at least easy to get at :)