One homeowner is hoping her neighbourhood gets moved up the City of Calgary’s priority list as more drainage improvements get underway to reduce flash flooding in rain-soaked Calgary.
Gail Horvath’s basement has flooded three times in three years, because of flash flooding that collects in her back alley.
It turns into a lake every time there are heavy downpours because of a nearby trunk line that isn’t big enough to service the area.
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The water runs from the alley to a neighbour’s yard, and then it pours into Horvath’s walkout basement.
Watch below: Video shot by Calgary’s Horvath family shows the flooding caused by older storm drains in Hillhurst
“We could just see the water coming through the fence and (it was) just like a river,” she said, describing the minutes before her basement flooded on Saturday.
“It’s panic, really, you don’t know what to do first,” Horvath said.
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A pump on the patio couldn’t keep up with three feet of water, which seeped under the door to the basement.
Horvath is hopeful the costly, frustrating flooding will end once crews replace aging storm sewer lines in her neighbourhood – in a decade or so.
“The city’s working on it, they’ve got this big master plan for the new trunkline,” she said, adding she has been told the project won’t begin for another eight to 16 years.
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The city recently completed upgrades in Rosemont.
Projects to reduce flooding in Kelvin Grove and Kingsland, Christie Park, and Woodlands/Woodbine are about to get underway.
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When those older neighbourhoods were built, design requirements for the storm sewer system were lower.
The city studies older areas with drainage problems and recommends improvements.
“We tend to prioritize them on the basis of where we have seen historically some flooding locally in those older communities and we perform a complete study where we identify: what’s the most cost-effective way to bring those communities up to modern standards?” said Francois Bouchart, manager of infrastructure planning and water services.
For now, the Horvaths are exploring upgrades of their own to keep water out, which are all very costly.
“We’re kind of down on the priority list — it would be nice if they would kind of look at it and say, ‘this is kind of a big deal for us,’” Horvath said.
Luckily, after last year’s flood, they didn’t replace their basement floor.
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