Calgary flood prevention plan includes Bow River fixes
Calgary officials have identified six critical areas along the Bow River that should be fixed before spring run-off to help prevent flooding.
Three of those riverbank erosion sites have already been repaired and three more will be starting shortly, officials said Monday during a news conference with the province on the ongoing work to protect against flooding in Calgary.
"These are projects that are protecting the banks. The standard that we're building to is higher than existed before the [June flooding] event, so in a sense they are repair, but they're also mitigation that will impact the ability to withstand future events of a similar magnitude," said Gord Stewart, head of the city's flood recovery team.
Provincial officials are still looking at large mitigation projects, including a dry dam on the Bow River upstream of Calgary and a diversion tunnel that would help drain the Glenmore Reservoir into the Bow River downstream of the core area.
Calgary Emergency Management Agency director Bruce Burrell says the city still has a lot of the equipment brought in during last spring's flood.
He says pumps and generators are on hand, but his advice for anyone who lives in a known flood zone is to start thinking now about how to better protect their property against spring flooding.