With $14 million being spent on short-term flood remediation work in Canmore’s Cougar Creek and the provincial government announcing $81 million in spending for flood-damaged provincial parks, we are now seeing the true scale of the cost of the June flood in Alberta.
Keep in mind, the $14 million is for short-term efforts in Cougar Creek only. More will be spent in future to try and keep the often-dry creek tamed in case of future flood events.
On the up-side of Cougar Creek work, though, is that it is not being restored simply to its former state. Being that a devastating flood which left people homeless and destroyed millions of dollars of property occurred this year, and being that experts are now saying it’s a statistical certainty a similar flood will occur again, it’s only appropriate that upgrades be made wherever possible.
Rather than remediate, then hope it never happens again (a la the ostrich with its head in the sand), proper steps are being taken to include a debris net, concrete mats, bank erosion protection and grade controls to ensure the future safety of homes along the watercourse, as well as the Trans-Canada Highway.
Hopefully, the work being done in Canmore will be viewed as the way to go with flood remediation in other areas. After all, there’s little point in simply restoring to a previous state when it’s now abundantly clear what can happen when a bad combination of snowmelt, rainfall, etc. combine.
Bad examples of post disaster efforts have been seen in tornado and hurricane areas of the U.S., for example, where some areas suffer disaster after disaster with no thought given to embracing and assisting on new construction designs and infrastructure upgrades.
In the U.S.’s Tornado Alley, or along the Gulf of Mexico, weather disasters are, and will continue to be, common.
In Manitoba, forward thinkers weren’t content to simply watch the Red River flood year after year after year, destroying homes and leaving hundreds or thousands homeless. Rather, millions were poured into a 47-kilometre flood control waterway to divert water around Winnipeg when necessary. Other ring dikes have been constructed in other Red River communities as well and the Manitoba government estimates these structures prevented about $700 million in damages in 2009 alone.
Looking at the devastation in High River, even in downtown Calgary, it’s not hard to see that similar work is necessary to keep the Bow and Highwood rivers in check.
Still to come locally is $60 million being spent in Kananaskis Country to help that area recover and clearly much needs to be done in the MD of Bighorn, where Jura and Exshaw creeks devastated families there.
In the end, billions will be spent in Alberta to recover from the June flood. We just hope common sense is used everywhere to ensure a similar event won’t cause similar hardship.
As it is, if roadways, for example, are simply rebuilt to include culverts for drainage – an engineering design that clearly failed in June – one wonders what’s the point?
With citizens still displaced in Canmore, the MD, High River, etc. it’s clear that effects of the flood still linger. And, while $60 million being slated for Kananaskis Country repairs is great, we’d hope that work there will lag behind efforts to get people safety back into their homes; homes that are properly safeguarded against similar future events.
