BANFF – June marks the 10th anniversary of the devastating 2013 Alberta floods.
Referred to as the one-in-100-year flood, a perfect storm of rapidly melting alpine snow collided with torrential rainfall of up to 350 millimetres pelting the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies from June 19-21, triggering widespread flooding that led to 32 states of local emergency, including in Canmore.
While the Banff townsite was not hit nearly as hard as neighbouring Canmore, the swollen Bow River submerged the recreation grounds and parts of the golf course, closed trails and threatened Birch Avenue properties.
In Canmore, more than 220 mm of rain fell in just 36 hours – nearly half of the town’s annual average rainfall – damaging and destroying homes along Cougar Creek and causing the evacuation of about 1,200 people in nearby neighbourhoods.
Silvio Adamo, Banff’s fire chief and director of emergency management for the Town of Banff, said he believes the 2013 foods could have been managed better with a more formal regional approach between Banff and Canmore, such as sharing operational resources and having a unified voice to the province of Alberta.
“We learned a lot from the 2013 floods,” he said, recalling the Trans-Canada Highway was closed off for several days. “We worked with Parks Canada, but we were siloed working with the Town of Canmore just 20 kilometres away.”
On the eve of the 10th anniversary of the 2013 flooding disaster, the Town of Banff is hosting a Disaster Readiness Day at the Banff train station intercept parking lot from 12-4 p.m. on Sunday (May 7) to showcase the municipality’s preparedness in dealing with an emergency or disaster.
More than 20 organizations and emergency agencies are participating, including fire departments based in the Bow Valley, STARS air ambulance, Alpine Helicopters, Parks Canada fire and vegetation crews and wildlife resource conservation officers.
Utility companies supporting the region, Mineral Springs Hospital, RCMP and its K-9 and armoured command vehicle divisions, Search and Rescue Alberta, and Canada Task Force 2 will also all be on hand.
Emergency equipment, vehicles and crews that would respond to flooding, wildfire, severe storms, train crashes, animal attacks, and a range of other emergencies and potential disasters will be part of the first-of-its-kind event for Banff.
“We want to show how prepared we are to face any type of emergency, and how a wide range of agencies are ready to work together for residents and visitors to Banff,” said Adamo.
In addition to giving residents an opportunity to see emergency vehicles and equipment up close, Adamo said the municipality is providing important information about the simple steps individuals and businesses can take to make sure they are prepared for an emergency.
“We will provide information and resources to help people in Banff take responsibility to ensure their families are safe in the event of a disaster,” he said.
The Banff Fire Department will showcase some of the municipality’s programs and services including new rooftop sprinklers available to residents at a significant discount, as well as the roof and conifer tree replacement incentive programs and free FireSmart home inspections to help prevent the spread of wildfire.
The Town will also officially launch its roof sprinkler incentive program for Alberta’s Emergency Preparedness Week. The program was approved by town council in January, offering Banff homeowners discounted sprinkler kits to use in the event of advancing wildfire. The roof sprinklers will be displayed at the Disaster Readiness Day.
"Sprinklers can be effective in dousing embers that land on roofs from encroaching wildfire," said Adamo.
The sprinkler program is being launched for Alberta’s Emergency Preparedness Week and the municipality is offering the roof top sprinkler kits to homeowners for $65.50, includes GST, at a discount from normal retail price of $230. The Town has 100 kits on offer in 2023.
To qualify for the rooftop sprinkler incentive, residents must complete a free FireSmart Home Assessment from the fire department.
"Roof sprinklers are another tool in our community’s toolbox to help prevent the spread of wildfire," said Adamo.
In addition, the Town of Canmore has been invited to participate in Banff’s Disaster Readiness Day, including Caitlin Miller, Canmore’s manager of protective services and director of emergency management who is working closely with Adamo on a regional emergency management plan.
With climate change playing a role in the frequency and severity of major emergencies, Banff and Canmore are working to create a regional plan to help guide how the two communities would respond together during significant emergencies and disasters.
Adamo said the intent of such a regional emergency management plan, planning for which got off the ground thanks to an initial provincial grant, is to increase capacity, preparedness, and resilience in the face of a disaster affecting the Bow Valley.
“We would love to chat with people about that and start educating folks more on how both communities are going to work more closely together when it comes to large-scale emergencies,” he said.
Following every emergency or disaster, Adamo said valuable lessons are learned.
For example, last June, the municipality was quick to deploy tiger dams – a series of water-filled tubes that create a flood barrier – to protect Birch Avenue properties as the Bow River was put on flood watch through Banff.
“Protecting Rocky Mountain Housing Co-op as folks saw last year when we deployed our tiger dams, that was all part of the 2013 lessons learned,” said Adamo.
“We're able to apply a lot of the learning and mitigation so that we’re far better prepared and able to deal with now than we were in 2013.”
The Town has also completed extensive work and practice on its notification and evacuation planning, with emergency preparedness pamphlets and guides to be handed out at the May 7 Disaster Readiness Day. In addition, the municipality will also help people sign up to receive emergency alerts.
“At the end of the day, we want to get people out of harm’s way as quickly and as safely as possible,” said Adamo.
“Regardless of what the emergency is, whether it's a train derailment with dangerous goods, or it’s a wildfire or flood, being really good at evacuation is a critical part of our emergency management program.”
