As spring has rolled into summer, nature has once again shown just how strong it can be with the recent events in Alberta.
Rain fell and the waters of many rivers and creeks began to rise until they caused havoc, taking lives and destroying anything that came in its watery path.
The cost of this type of disaster will run into the billions of dollars and affect many people in different ways.
Thanks to the ease of putting photos and videos online people were able to see the drama as it played out.
It is always interesting to see people, for better or worse, head into these areas where logic says you should not be, just so they can post online.
The internet was filled with stories of sadness, shock and occasionally relief during the flooding.
Perhaps the most difficult thing to comprehend out of this situation was just how massive the devastation was to so many areas.
Highways were closed off leaving many people stranded with no direction to go.
Towns were evacuated, leaving friends and families doing everything they could to find out if their loved ones had made it out of the areas where the water was rising.
Not knowing is one of the toughest things for people to deal with when events like this take place. There is little worse than not knowing and having your imagination fear the worst.
Then there were the images coming out of a major city like Calgary. As someone who used to live in the city, seeing the downtown look more like something out of Waterworld than what I was used to was hard to comprehend.
So many places, where many of us have been, were under water and there was nothing anyone could do but stay as dry as possible and wait the storm out.
Perhaps it is this perceived hopelessness that brings everyone together to help where they can.
During the flooding there were many stories about people going out of their way to help those in need.
Once again emergency services responded to do what they could. There were stories of people who opened up their own houses to anyone who needed a place to stay until the flood was over. Even some of the animals at the Calgary Zoo found new homes at centres and shelters that opened their door to keep the animals safe.
Of course for many people the tough time is still to come. Trying to get home to find out how much damage has been done is a tough drive for anyone.
Disasters like this have the ability to distroy possessions. They can take away photographs, homes and sadly lives as well.
But once the water drops people make the decision to rebuild and continue on. They have to hope this time the water does not come again.
