21 June 2010

Disaster Unfolded Before Man's Eyes

Canadian Pacific Railway crews work to repair a portion of the track that slumped into
Ross Creek during Saturday's flood.

Medicine Hat Alberta - A Medicine Hat man who tried to flag down a train on a collision course with the swollen waters of Ross Creek is wondering whether it was his family's actions that saved the lives of the engineer and crew.
 
Raymond John was walking his dog Saturday with his family on the walking trails near his East Glen home overlooking Ross Creek when he noticed that the railway line had been damaged by floodwaters.
 
"I could see a lot of fresh earth showing, and I could see the railway ties hanging over," says John, who immediately called 911 to alert them of the situation. "I said, the water has eroded the whole railway embankment, and if a train comes over that, it's going to go straight into the water."
 
Only moments after hanging up on the 911 operator, John watched the entire embankment collapse before his eyes.
 
"All of a sudden I could see more earth and rubble moving, and the next thing you know there was just an almighty whoosh and the whole thing just collapsed, which just left the railway lines with nothing underneath them at all," John says. "They were just hanging in mid-air."
 
To the John family's horror, it was only minutes later that a slow-moving train appeared on the horizon. Looking down at the scene from the outcrop above, John was positive the engineer would not be able to see the crumbled embankment because of the bend in the tracks and the trees and shrubs blocking the view.
 
"I said, oh my God, we've got to do something quick!" John recalls. "I had a red t-shirt on, so I took it off and started waving like crazy, hoping that somebody would see."
 
Just before the train came around the actual bend, it stopped. John watched from above as the engineer and crew jumped off and walked around the curve to where they would be able to see the broken track.
 
A few days later, John still doesn't know whether the train stopped because they saw his family frantically waving or whether it stopped for another reason.
 
But he has gone back to survey the site of the near-disaster, and seeing the gaping hole where the railway tracks once were reminds him of what he nearly witnessed.
 
"Looking at it now I would say there's probably 200 metres of railway line gone into the water," John says.
 
Amanda Stephenson.