Flood recovery update

City business units continue flood recovery operations with three primary focuses:

Assisting citizens and business heavily affected by last month’s floods get the City information and services they need to facilitate recovery
Repairing critical infrastructure to ensure safety and restore service to citizens
Accurately assessing the damage to City assets and infrastructure

Patience is appreciated

City staff are working diligently to return services and operations to near-normal levels. However, a number of challenges remain:

A significant number of City workers, particularly those in the Municipal complex, are still displaced from their normal place of work;
In many business units, staff are working on damage assessment and critical repairs and have been diverted from their regular operational work. This may mean some non-critical work has been delayed.
During the initial response, a considerable portion of City staff turned from their regular work to focus on flood crisis activities. Inevitably, this has created some backlogs in routine operational work.

The City appreciates citizens’ understanding of the situation and asks for their continued patience as we move forward.

Following are details of some of the specific activities in various business units:

Development & Building Approvals

The Planning Services Centre application and inquires counter on the third floor of the Municipal Building is prioritizing flood-related permits to help Calgarians recover from the flood as quickly and safely as possible.
Business owners impacted by flooding should contact 311 for a free Flood Assessment inspection. A team of Safety Code officers will visit your property to address the level of repairs and permit required to help you get back in business.

Roads

Roads crews have identified 101 sinkholes on Calgary roadways. Of those 101, repairs have been completed on 58. Of the remaining 43, four are major projects which will require extensive repairs to roadways.

Waste & Recycling

Landfills

Our City landfills have seen a significant decrease in the amount of flood-related materials coming in, but we recognize there are still many residents who may need more time to clear flood-related waste from their homes.
Until September 3, all City landfills will continue to accept flood-related waste at no charge. After September 3, regular landfill rates will apply.
As residents work through the rebuilding phase, we encourage them to work with their contractor to recycle as much of their construction and demolition waste as possible to save money on landfill disposal fees.
- You can save money by recycling clean, source-separated loads of certain construction and demolition materials at Spyhill Landfill and, beginning on August 1, also at Shepard Landfill; or through private recyclers. To find a list of construction and demolition recyclers visit the Recycling Council of Alberta, Green Calgary or the Yellow Pages.

Collections

Until September 3, Waste & Recycling Services trucks will continue monitoring flood-affected neighbourhoods to assist residents, where needed, with collection of flood-related garbage.

Parks

Folk Music Festival

The 34^th Calgary Folk Music Festival is able to proceed July 25-28 at its historic home – Prince’s Island Park. Diligent work by Parks staff, event organizers and more than 250 volunteers returned the park to a state in which it is possible to host the event.

This year’s event has been modified to accommodate the restoration work that is ongoing and The City will ensure the park will not be further impacted.

Public safety measures are in place to support the use of Prince’s Island for the festival and include fencing to isolate the damaged areas and areas where the reclamation has begun. Public safety is the top priority for The City.

After the festival is over, work is still required to fully repair the park. For safety reasons, public access will continue to be restricted while repair work is ongoing.

Bowness Park

Parks has crews working seven days a week to repair damage to Bowness Park and allow the redevelopment initiative which was in progress to continue.

Prior to the flood, the park was partially closed and undergoing a three-year redevelopment initiative to support increasing numbers of park visitors, boost the park’s environmental health, and complete much needed life-cycle upgrades.

Due to extensive damages from the flood, Bowness Park is closed for the summer. Damages include:

Structures such as the Parks depot, washrooms, shelters and new construction, including the new concession
Silt and large debris piled up in the park including logs and trees
Picnic tables and playground needing to be cleaned and disinfected

While Parks is still assessing the site, they expect the flood to delay the project by a year.

Damages to the park were less extensive due to preventative measures implemented prior to the flood. Boulders placed along the river’s edge known as “armour” in the vicinity of the Stoney Trail bridge protected the land from erosion. Rock berms or “spurs” that extend into the river helped reduce scouring and protected the river bank.

Pathways

A major piece of pathway has re-opened at the intersection of Memorial Drive and 19 St. , which will greatly assist cycling commuters to enter the downtown core.

The Bow and Elbow riverside sections were hit hard by the flood. Approximately 40 km of pathway – out of a total 800 km -- are currently closed due to pathway sections that are missing or need repairs. City of Calgary Parks is opening up sections of pathway daily as they are repaired or replaced.

For sections damaged beyond immediate repair, City of Calgary Parks and Transportation Planning are working to identify and designate new on-street bike routes as an alternative.

Parks’ commitment to citizens is to repair routes beginning downtown and moving away from the core. The focus is on areas that will improve access into the downtown core.

Parks is working with City of Calgary Water Resources to prioritize and rehabilitate river banks where pathways have been affected and ensure their stability.

Any in-river work needs to be done in conjunction with regulations outlined by the Province that are designed to protect fish habitat. The window for work along river banks runs from July 15 to September 15. Parks is working as quickly as it can to complete work before this window closes.