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Bear researcher saved life’s work from flood

Michael Allen rescued computer hard drive from Cheakamus waters For more than three long hours in the gathering dusk Michael Allen waded back and forth through the frigid Cheakamus River on Sunday trying to salvage the things of his life.

Michael Allen rescued computer hard drive from Cheakamus waters

For more than three long hours in the gathering dusk Michael Allen waded back and forth through the frigid Cheakamus River on Sunday trying to salvage the things of his life.

He had been evacuated from the Paradise Valley area the day before but he knew there was a sturdy log 200 metres from his home that almost straddled the width of the river. And he knew he had to give it a shot.

His life’s work, a complex catalogue of Whistler’s black bear population, was stored in a computer on the other side of that log. But rising water levels were threatening to destroy all trace of that work.

Negotiating the log with the mad river waters rushing underneath, Allen reached the end and plunged in with a rope tied around his waist.

He was wearing nothing more than his sneakers, a sopping wet T-shirt, and a pair of shorts. But the chill was the furthest thing from his mind. He made is to the banks and scrambled up to his home.

"I couldn’t believe it when I first saw the front of the house," he recalled days later.

There was about two feet of water running into his front door and murky silt from the river bottom coated the floors and walls.

"The fridge was right across the kitchen and face down and there was just food everywhere."

Taking stock of the situation, Allen began to pick and choose what he would carry out with him and what he would leave behind. First he pulled his crying cat out from under a bed and took it to safety.

Next he wrapped his hard drive in plastic, made his way back down to the rushing river, canoed back to the log and handed his valuable research to a friend. It was a journey he made several times that evening.

By the end he could barely feel his legs.

"I could hardly walk but the adrenaline kept me going, just the fact that you’re getting the stuff."

Two days earlier, on Friday, Oct. 17, he wasn’t thinking about "stuff" as he rushed back home from Whistler where he had been collecting black bear hair samples.

At that time the banks of the Cheakamus were threatening to spill over and he had only thoughts of his family in mind.

"When I drove up my heart just about jumped out of my mouth," he said.

His wife and terrified seven-year-old daughter were across a rising tide of water. He put his high beams on and climbed out of his truck into the water.

"There’s no way I’d be on one side and they’d be on the other," he said.

He carried both to safety on high ground. When he turned around the water was too high to make another trip and Tigger, the family cat, was left behind,

Thinking back, he said it was like something out of a movie.

That night the family stayed at their landlord’s home, which was higher up in Paradise Valley, but Allen couldn’t sleep. He listened to boulders crashing down the river and thought about his family, his cat, his home, his work. Sometimes he just stared out the windows and watched the fury of the river flow by.

The family was taken out of Paradise Valley in a helicopter on Saturday and the following day Allen made the trip over the Cheakamus to save what he could.

Days later the family returned home via the six-kilometre hike along the railway tracks. Officially they were not allowed back into Paradise Valley but like many others, they just couldn’t stay away from their home.

It was a staggering sight.

"It’s pretty depressing," said Allen, from his cell phone.

"You don’t even know where to start. There’s just (stuff) everywhere. There’s stuff from residences a kilometre up from me just strewn everywhere."

A canopy lay in his backyard, next to it were empty propane canisters, firewood and old tires.

Inside the house the water was gone but in its place was two feet of sticky silt.

"And when it hardens, when it dries out it’s like concrete and you gotta get it fast," said Allen.

"So the longer we stay away from our house, the more damage there is. That’s for sure. So that’s why people want to get in here and clean things up. Because it’s just going to be 100 times worse if we wait a week when everything dries."

At the highest place, the water mark reaches more than six feet.

On Tuesday Allen hosed out the whole house and pushed the silt into the yard.

Many things are lost forever – schoolwork, clothes, appliances, research books, and many books about black bears.

Though the river was almost back down to its original level by the middle of this week, there was no respite from the weather as the rain came down again on Wednesday afternoon.

Frustration abounded in Paradise Valley as residents desperately looked for answers to their questions, like when would the road reopen or power be restored.

"I’m a little bit angry," said Allen.

"I wish I would have saw it coming because I’ve lived in the bush most of my life."

Allen has been studying Whistler’s black bears for the past decade and has catalogued valuable information about bear populations and families.

The Local Arts and Crafts Fair, which runs every weekend at the Freestyle Framing & Art Gallery in Squamish, will kick off a fund for Michael Allen’s flood losses as well as the Sea to Sky Flood Relief Fund.

Instead of charging commission from the sales at the fair, gallery owner Terry Vincent will have a voluntary donation pool that the entrepreneurs can tip into at the end of their day of sales.