Syed Abbas, director of engineering for the Southern Alberta Flood Recovery Task Force, gives an overview of Alberta’s Flood Recovery at the CWRA Alberta Branch Annual Conference, in March 2014. The presentation covers update on how the government responded to the June 2013 flooding event for the response, recovery, and mitigation.
The Calgary flood of 2013 was one of the largest disasters in Canadian history. Over 14.500 homes and 80 schools were damaged. 100 000 people were evacuated, and 30 communities were impacted. The initial response included the allocation of one billion dollars for emergency funding to create emergency shelters, distribute food to those who needed it, and rebuild critical infrastructure. An organized response quickly followed, and this included actions such as setting up emergency operation centers, and declaring states of emergencies.
Alberta’s approach to flood recovery framework ensured the local communities were and are at the center of recovery as the driver of improvement. Calgary is currently in between the phase of intermediate recovery and long term recovery. Recovery can be divided into four elements: environment, people, reconstruction and economy. The Alberta flood mitigation strategic plan includes deliverables in each element. This includes the implementation of an erosion control program, construction of water management infrastructure, and completion of the final development of municipal mitigation and resilience plans. Deliverables are happening now and will continue until the spring of 2020.
