Major city work is complete
With only a little over a week to go before the anniversary of the 2013 flood the City of Calgary announced the most important flood recovery and mitigation projects are underway or already completed at a cost of $52 million.
“Flood repair mitigation and preparation remain major priorities” Mayor Naheed Nenshi said in a press release. “The city identified 50 projects addressing river flood erosion that would provide the most protection against potential flooding while the provincial government builds the long-term upstream major flood mitigation projects that will further protect Calgary.”
Major upstream projects on the Elbow River designed to prevent flooding in Calgary namely the Springbank Road off-stream reservoir and McLean Creek Dry Dam are still in the planning stage. A new agreement between the province and TransAlta to hold back water at the Ghost Reservoir six weeks longer than in previous years is capable of reducing flow levels in the Bow River by 100 cubic metres per second.
Municipal infrastructure around Alberta can benefit from a newly announced $325-million provincial grant program. Communities can receive grants of up to $3 million to build berms dykes and stabilize river banks to protect public buildings and roads or enhance public safety.
The provincial government also says it has extended its deadline for homeowners located in the floodway to apply to the relocation program. Only 107 homeowners have done so to date with 77 of them signing agreements to sell their homes to the province.
