Perched and posing

Usually, when I pull up slowly beside a Red-winged Blackbird perched on a fence post, it has already flown by the time I stop : ) I was lucky this time and managed to get a few quick shots. Taken along one of the backroads SW of Calgary, on 26 June 2013.

FLOOD OF THE CENTURY update:

Calgary will remain in a State of Emergency until about 4th July. The residents of High River, half an hour's drive south of us, is in a far worse condition.

"Some evacuees forced out by flooding in the hardest-hit southern Alberta town (High River) will be walking through their doors Saturday for the first time in more than a week, but others could be waiting for another month or more. The province announced Friday that it would be allowing about 5,000 residents from the northwest corner of High River to return to their homes for the first time in 10 days, but even those in line for a close-up look were warned that not everybody would be able to stay. Shane Schreiber of Alberta Emergency Management cautioned that not all of the 1,000 homes in the neighbourhood would be livable because of flood damage. Schreiber also explained that the phased re-entry of evacuees could take as long as five weeks for people from the most heavily devastated part of the town of 13,000...."Sector 4 ... will take much longer ... because it's still under water," he said.

In Calgary, which remains in a State of Emergency after the Elbow and Bow rivers swamped low-lying areas and much of the downtown, the emergency management director also had some bad news. Bruce Burrell said it's estimated between 8,000 and 10,000 of the 75,000 people forced out at the height of the flood waters would be out of their severely damaged homes for "a significant period of time." We do have a lot of people who this is going to take a very traumatic toll on,'' he said." From the Canadian Press on the Weather Network. See link below.

Effective midnight (12 a.m., Sunday, June 30 2013), the City of Calgary lifted outdoor water use restrictions for all customers, including Airdrie, Chestermere and Strathmore. While restrictions have been lifted, Calgarians should, as always, continue to use water wisely.

bcove.me/55ws5o1p

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