Voices of the flood – Mayor Jyoti Gondek: Calgary outlined by flood response and ongoing planning

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On the tenth anniversary of the 2013 flood in Calgary, we’re a extra ready and resilient metropolis for 2 causes: our folks and our flood mitigation plan. We’re stronger because of the compassion of Calgarians, the experience inside the Emergency Operations Centre, and the implementation of vital infrastructure enhancements.

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The June 2013 Southern Alberta floods have been the most important and most expensive catastrophe in Canada on the time. This was the results of heavy rainfall on the melting snowpack within the Rocky Mountains which elevated river ranges and washed into areas downstream. In Calgary, greater than 80,000 folks have been evacuated from their dwelling communities. One Calgarian misplaced their life to the flood, and as a lot as $6 billion in monetary losses and property harm have been skilled throughout Southern Alberta.

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Calgary’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) performed a big function in managing the 2013 flood disaster. This 50,000-square-foot constructing is a hub for all emergency administration companies throughout any sort of catastrophe in Calgary, guaranteeing that Metropolis operations may be maintained throughout an emergency and enterprise disruptions are minimized. Via the EOC, the Calgary Emergency Administration Company partnered with different companies to offer the planning and course wanted to help 1000’s of Calgarians in the course of the 2013 flood.

As a metropolis, we’re grateful to the members of council who had the foresight a decade and a half in the past to create the EOC, which opened one 12 months earlier than the flood. We’re equally grateful to the members of council in 2013 who took swift motion, supplied reassurances to Calgarians, and commenced pushing for funding in flood resilience methods.

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At present, Calgary is 50 per cent extra flood resilient than we have been in 2013. This may be attributed partially to the Metropolis of Calgary’s Flood Resilience Plan, developed as a mixed effort between consultants within the discipline and Calgarians who shared their lived experiences from flooding. Additional collaborative efforts between all three orders of presidency have led to $1 billion in investments to this point, together with the continued building of the Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir challenge that’s anticipated to be operational by 2025.

This upstream mitigation will see 2,210 extra properties protected in opposition to extreme flooding inside Calgary, translating to $68 billion value of property and infrastructure being protected to a minimum of 1:100 flood stage. It’s anticipated that Calgary will scale back its flood harm publicity by 70 per cent within the subsequent two years.

Regionally, a lot of the flood mitigation work to this point has been alongside the Elbow River with enhancements that complement upstream mitigation by the Springbank Reservoir. By 2022, the Metropolis accomplished the downtown flood barrier, together with the addition of two.5-metre gates that doubles the capability of the Glenmore Reservoir. The Metropolis additionally progressed design of the Sunnyside flood barrier, with building anticipated to happen over the following two years. We’ve additional addressed problems with riverbank stability and strengthened drainage enchancment infrastructure.

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There’s nonetheless work to do, as 30 per cent of remaining flood harm publicity is tied to mitigation alongside the Bow River. The simplest flood mitigation can be upstream, which requires completion of Part 2 of the provincial Bow River Reservoir Choices Examine inspecting the feasibility of three potential reservoir websites. The Metropolis’s most up-to-date provincial finances submission referred to as for a dedication to Part 3 of this work, which stays unfunded. Part 3 would proceed with detailed designs and regulatory approvals for the popular reservoir possibility.

Whereas this work is complicated, it’s needed to guard in opposition to the impacts of extreme local weather occasions on infrastructure, the financial system and well being care in Calgary. The anticipated prices of inaction are $2.6 billion yearly by the 2050s and $7.8 billion yearly by the 2080s. Our future depends upon our potential to take motion now.

As we mirror on the flood of 2013, I’m most inspired that we weren’t outlined by what occurred to us. Reasonably, we’ve got been outlined by our collaborative response and rapid actions towards mitigation. Calgarians responded in 2013 by becoming a member of forces to get by the catastrophe collectively. In 2023, we’ve got applied measures to guard ourselves from future flooding. We’ve realized a lot and we’ve got taken motion. Onward.

On this particular collection of visitor columns referred to as Voices of the Flood, neighborhood leaders are sharing their reminiscences a decade after the catastrophe.

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