Residents of Discovery Ridge build their own berm to prevent flooding

It’s been three years since the devastating floods of 2013, but many residents of Discovery Ridge in the Calgary’s southwest still have vivid memories.

“The evacuation was so last minute,” said Kathryn Hatch who was forced from her home. “I was here for 45 minutes and everything looked normal. I go to very quickly pack a bag and the water was coming in. I drove through the water in the parkade as it was coming up through floor drains and as I came out I saw the waterfall coming down this ramp. I was absolutely horrified. It was pandemonium.”

On Saturday, the mood in Discovery Ridge couldn’t be any different. Residents of the Wedgewoods of New Discovery hosted their 3rd Annual Neighbour Day Party. They are also celebrating the completion of a new earth berm that will separate their homes from the waters of Elbow River.

“The peace of mind is amazing,” said Brenda Belcher whose home was flooded in 2013. “I’ve spent a lot of time not sleeping, worried about what’s next. And the fact that we got the berm up, it’s beautiful and it’s just a wonderful thing for our community. I’m so happy that we’ve done the mitigation.”

The Wedgewoods of New Discovery were hit with $13 million dollars worth of damage in 2013. Since the floods, the 1,200 residents have come together through their condo board to do their own flood mitigation work.

“There was absolutely some resistance. But the board felt very strongly that this is what we had to do and we had to mitigate. We had to be able to have insurance. So bottom line is we couldn’t wait for anybody to do it, we had to do it ourselves,” said Belcher.

But the berm isn’t the only project the residents have come up with. They have also moved their heating boilers from the parkade to the main floors and added flood proof doors. It all cost homeowners $2.2 million dollars, a price tag covered by special assessments of around $4,000 per unit.

“The berm was something that they would absolutely not consider for funding. That was a flat out no,” said Hatch of the response from the province.

“It blew my mind. It absolutely blew my mind because the manner in which the water entered this building in particular was through our parkade ramp and through our parkade vents. And this mitigation will limit the amount of water into this building so it didn’t make sense to me.”

Hatch said the province provided $30,000 and covered their deductible, but the MLA for Calgary West said he is still trying to get more money for the residents.

“Does it make sense? No it doesn’t make sense,” said Mike Ellis at the Neighbour Day event.

“If I can help them as an advocate to get them more money I certainly will.”

The residents of the Wedgewoods are also giving back by raising money at the Neighbour Day party for Fort McMurray relief. Many of the people at the event feel a sense of empathy for those evacuated from their homes.

“Absolute flashbacks to the evacuation,” said Hatch. “It was absolutely shocking. Added to that, we do back onto a very mature forest. Very dry at the time when the Fort McMurray fires were going on so it was actually quite terrifying. There were many nights that I didn’t sleep.”

Despite the fact the flood mitigation work meant money out of their own pockets, some residents of the Wedgewoods say it’s helped them feel more secure about living here.

“I feel proud,” said Belcher. “The fact of the matter is there’s only so much money to go around. Me personally, we have to just suck it up and deal with it. If I could’ve got what I paid for my property I would’ve moved that day. But that subsides and it’s really subsided now.”

“It’s an absolutely beautiful community here.”