Five years after the southern Alberta flooding, Mayor Naheed Nenshi and other city officials reflected on what the disaster was like for Calgarians.
Nenshi shared some of his starkest memories of the flood at a news conference Wednesday morning. He spoke about hearing the rushing water, helping seniors get out, and later, visiting a young couple in their barren home.
He said the couple had nailed a sign to a tree outside their house with a message that has stuck with him since 2013.
“It said: ‘We lost some stuff, we gained a community,’ and that’s what I’m most proud of,” Nenshi said.
In the years since the flood, the city and the province have outlined many different mitigation and prevention efforts that are aimed at better managing flood risks.
According to the city, such projects include:
- More sophisticated river and weather modelling and monitoring tools
- New gates on the Glenmore dam to double the water capacity that can be held back on the Elbow River
- Permanent flood barriers to give more protection to low-lying communities
- Improvements to stormwater systems and outfalls for communities
Nenshi said the $150 million and efforts from all three levels of government have reduced Calgary’s flood risk by one third since 2013 but he admitted there is still lots to be done.
“We have to continue to do better. Doing better means first of all understanding better how all of the rivers work and how they’ve changed since the flood.”
The leader of Watershed Analysis for the city, Frank Frigo, said that once the city’s strategy is completely implemented, it will protect Calgarians from another 2013-sized flood.
“We cannot prevent river flooding but we are working with our provincial and federal partners to reduce its impact,” Frigo said in a news release.