Flood Mitigation: taking steps to build resiliency

With recent news stories about the devastating floods in Houston and in Cache Creek, BC, building flood resiliency in Calgary is a timely topic that The City continues to address.  

Elbow River Bridge Construction, Fall 2014

Although almost two years have passed since the June 2013 Flood, for many Calgarians building flood resiliency remains important. Results from the 2014 Citizen Satisfaction Survey indicate that 93 per cent of Calgarians believe that The City should invest more or the same in providing protection from river flooding. And, that is what The City is working towards.  

For Calgary and Calgarians, building flood resiliency means increasing our ability to quickly recover from a flood event, as well as taking preventative measures that will help to mitigate flooding in future. Over the past two years, more than 200 repair or restoration projects have been identified to contribute to Calgary’s flood resiliency.

“The Citizen Satisfaction Survey told us that 85 per cent of Calgarians believe protection from river flooding is important,” says Carolyn Bowen, Program Manager, Flood Resiliency and Mitigation. “We are taking a comprehensive and collaborative approach to implementing the most effective combination of solutions to mitigate the impacts of flooding in our city.”

Some of the key steps The City has taken to improve flood resiliency to date include: 

• Strengthening our understanding of river flooding by improving river monitoring stations, river level forecasting and flood inundation mapping.
• Securing $14.89 million in funding for four projects through the Province’s Alberta Community Resilience Program.
• Restoring and reinforcing 19 critical and high priority areas, including bridges and riverbanks, to make them more resilient to flooding.
• Delivering flood recovery and preparedness presentations to 6,000 citizens and developing flood readiness information and tools, now available at calgary.ca/floodinfo.

In July 2013 The City of Calgary created an Expert Management Panel to steer The City’s River Flood Mitigation Program. The Expert Management Panel developed a report that included 27 recommendations to achieve a safer, more flood resilient city. To view the Panel’s recommendations and the progress The City has made on them, to date, you can download the Flood Resiliency and Mitigation 2014 Annual Report.