In late June, flood evacuees in the Fort Macleod area returned home, thankful the damage wasn’t worse.
A rising Oldman River eroded its banks, flooded basements and took out fence posts.
Nothing new for residents of low-lying areas.
“Many understand the risks involved,” said Fort Macleod Mayor Shawn Patience. “Newcomers get extremely surprised. A beautiful piece of land becomes dangerous.”
The province is trying to change that mentality of rebuild and repair.
“We would prefer people move out of the flood way,” Doug Griffiths, Minister of Municipal Affairs said Sunday. “If they choose to rebuild there, they can do that. That’s all they get.”
While Fort Macleod doesn’t want to discourage rebuilding, it has invested millions of dollars in the last decade alone on flood mitigation and has tried to limit growth near the river for some time.
“Our regional planning authority has not promoted development in those flood plains for a number of years,” said Patience. “The reason is fairly obvious I think.”
A reason Lethbridge had in the Oldman River valley 60 years ago.
Roughly 83 families lived near the river bottom then, until the flood of 1953 washed out homes, resulting in the same conversation Alberta communities are having today.
“It was the reality of it not being a smart place to live because of flooding,” said Belinda Crowson, an educator at Galt Museum & Archives. “It took out infrastructure and took a lot of cost to rebuild.”
Ultimately, Lethbridge re-zoned the area for parkland and recreation.
All families moved by the 1970’s.
That directive is unlikely in Fort Macleod, but the town recognizes something may have to give.
“What was a 1-in-100 year flood is now maybe a 1-in-50 year event,” Patience said.
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