Calgary residents flooded by heavy rains on the hook for repairs as city upgrades storm sewers

Some Calgary residents say storm-sewer systems are proving inadequate for the amount of rain the city has been getting, leaving them to pay out of pocket for damage from local flooding.

"It happened like in a few minutes; the tenant just had enough time to get out of the house", said Anna Orlova, who rents out a home in Woodlands that was recently overwhelmed by water.

"When the water flows, it creates like a river."

• Calgary area hit by torrential rain, flooding
• Thunderstorm brings lightning, hail, flooding and even snow

Rob Burkinshaw was in the home, where he lives with wife, their two boys and dog, when the flooding struck.

"The water was starting to build up against the garage door and we could smell gas, so we decided to get the kids out," he said.

"All the water just poured down this driveway and it broke open the door and eventually came in."

He figures the family lost about a third of their possessions, most of which was covered by tenants' insurance. Some things, however, could not be replaced.

"We lost all our pictures," he said. "My wife lost her wedding dress. We lost passports. We lost all our paperwork."

Still, he said he feels worse for Orlova, who has to foot the heaviest bills for repairs and upgrades to the home to protect it against future flood risk.

She estimates that will cost her $30,000 and figures it should be a "shared responsibility" between property owners and the city.

"I'm expecting at least some help from some authorities," she said.

"It's not our fault. We're cleaning the drains properly."

But Francois Bouchart with Calgary Water Services said there's only so much a storm-sewer system can do when faced with a major rainfall.

"You're talking about natural events that nobody can control, and any storm system anywhere in the world is always going to be designed to handle a certain event," he said.

"So there's always going to be a possibility that an event will be large enough that the capacity of the system is overwhelmed and then you will have local flooding that occurs."

Like many municipalities across North America, Bouchart said Calgary is trying to upgrade drainage systems built decades ago, but it's a slow and costly task.

Eighteen communities in Calgary — including Woodlands — are due for about $40 million in upgrades and work should be complete in some areas by 2018, Bouchart said, but others will have to wait until 2024.

"All of those communities are going through the same challenges in terms of having to reinvest in their infrastructure, to address changes in people's expectations as well as changes in our natural environment," he said.

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