Calgary

Calgary managed 2013 flood well, says new report

A new report says the City of Calgary managed last year's flood well.

Conference Board of Canada report says only glitch was mixed messages between province, city

The Conference Board of Canada says Calgary did a good job in responding to 2013's devastating flood, which hit the inner city and many other areas, as well as multiple cities and towns across southern Alberta. (Submitted by Paúl Valentin Lara)

A new report says the City of Calgary managed last year's flood well.

The Conference Board of Canada says Calgary was well-prepared to respond to the disaster and measured up well in how quickly it turned things around. However, it did suggest there could have been better communication between the province and the city — but the head of Calgary's Emergency Response Management Agency says there were a lot of factors behind communication delays during the flood.

"If we made an inquiry or said, you know, we thought that you were dealing with this issue or we thought that you were going to do this and now you're doing this, sometimes we didn't hear back right away," said Bruce Burrell. "Sometimes it might be half an hour or 40 minutes before we got a response back from the province."

The report also suggested Calgary could offer better mental health resources for first responders.

It also highlighted the city's strong relationships with the public as well as private sector businesses as a factor in being able to get things done quickly.