APEGA Flood Report

54 | PEG SEPTEMBER 2013
COVER
On the
Ground
and in the
Muck
When southern Alberta needed
APEGA Members and permit
holders, you were there — with
your wallets, your brains, your
brawn and your compassion.
Following is a sampling of your
stories, along with a close look
at the damage done by the
Great Flood of 2013, the lessons
learned and the strategies
necessary for mitigation
STORIES BY CORINNE LUTTER
Member & Internal Communications
Coordinator

SEPTEMBER 2013 PEG | 55
-photo by Corinne Lutter

COVER
‘No One Person Could Do This Alone’
They flipped burgers and baked muffins to feed volunteers. They scrubbed mould and removed muck
and ruined appliances from flooded homes. Raised money for relief efforts. Donated their professional
services and time. APEGA Members were among the thousands of Albertans who stepped forward in a
time of need to help communities recover and rebuild
The humans may have been kept away, but there were no such
restrictions for the nine long-toed salamanders living it up in the
toxic muck in Linda Clarke’s flooded High River home. Volunteers
from Stewart Weir, a land surveying, engineering and environ-
mental consulting firm, found the amphibious residents on July
16, nearly a month after the Highwood River spilled its banks and
turned Ms. Clarke’s Sunrise neighbourhood into a lake dotted with
flooded houses.
Crews were now allowed into Ms. Clarke’s home to start
cleaning up, and the team from Stewart Weir’s Calgary office was
eager to get at it. While staff had been doing work in the town for
a couple weeks already, this house had a personal connection. Ms.
Clarke’s daughter, Laura Richeson,
is a safety representative with the
company, and her co-workers had
been waiting since late June to
help on site.
Volunteers from her employer
brought not only their muscles,
says Ms. Richeson, but also
supplies, food, drinks and caring.
“I can’t begin to explain how
important their support has been
for us,” she says. “No one person
could do this alone. No family
could do this alone.”
“Being a family is one of
our company values,” says Basir
Saleh, P.Eng., Stewart Weir’s
transportation infrastructure
manager. “It makes it very special
to help one of our own.”
The high-water mark was
six inches above Ms. Clarke’s
main floor. Despite the devastation to her modest, one-storey
bungalow, a smile lit up her face as she watched Mr. Saleh and
the other volunteers — their white coveralls now spattered with
brown — haul ruined belongings to the front curb. “I have these
wonderful people to help me and a loving family, and that’s more
important than stuff,” she says. “There’s no way you could put a
value on the work that these people have done, and the passion
and caring they have given me is just overwhelming.”
The volunteers did, by the way, safely relocate those
salamanders.
Stewart Weir budgeted $25,000 for 40 Calgary staff members
to support cleanup in Calgary and High River. Between June 24
and July 19, teams of five to 10 employees spent more than 700
hours pitching in.
“About 90 per cent of our staff members have picked up
a shovel and gone out to help,” says Mr. Saleh. “Residents are
grateful. Every individual that you talk to has a story that touches
people’s hearts. They are
overwhelmed, but the helping
hands give them hope more than
anything. Everybody has that
sense of hope for the future.”
Walking around High River in
mid-July, he was shocked by the
damage. “It was just devastating,
and to me that’s when it kind of
kicked in, the havoc two or three
weeks later. It was completely
a ghost town, cars full of mud.
When you see it on TV it’s one
thing, but when you see it in real
life it hits home,” says Mr. Saleh.
MISSION POSSIBLE —
BUT DAUNTING
Members of the integrity
engineering group at Calgary’s
NAL Resources Management also
felt compelled to lend a hand to
their neighbours in the south. Nine volunteers cleaned two High
River houses in one day as part of the Mission Possible 2 Flood
Relief efforts.
“Everyone chipped in shoveling mud, moving furniture,
tearing up carpet and even removing a now infamous fridge from
“I have these
wonderful people to
help me and a loving
family, and that’s
more important
than stuff.”
LINDA CLARKE
High River Resident

FROM HOME TO CURB
High River homeowner Linda Clarke (back row, third from left) is surrounded by her family and the clean-up crew from Stewart Weir outside her flooded High River home, including
Basir Saleh, P.Eng. (front left). Ms. Clarke was finally able to start cleaning out her flooded Sunrise home on July 16.

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one apartment,” says team lead Adam
Moore, P.Eng. “It was very moving to see
the community pitching in to help their
neighbours with the huge recovery effort.
We quickly realized how daunting this
cleanup is and how difficult it would be for
residents if they didn’t receive help and
donations.”
The homeowners included an elderly
couple who couldn’t move furniture on
their own. “They made a point of taking a
photo of each group of volunteers so they
could always remember the help they got,”
says Mr. Moore. “At the second house we
visited, we helped retrieve mud-soaked
furniture from the basement, which was
an engineering challenge in itself as the
furniture weighed several times more than
if it was dry and it was extremely difficult
to grip.”
FOCUSED FUNDRAISING
Returning to their downtown Calgary office
a few days after the flooding, employees
and executives at Focus Corporation had
one question on their minds: What can we
do to help?
“Before we knew it, everyone was
donating money towards relief from
the flooding,” says Trent Purvis, P.Eng.,
Focus’s manager of land development
engineering in the southern region. “We
were really blown away by the employees’
generosity.”
Through the company’s Stampede
breakfast, golf and bowling tournaments,
along with other events, employees raised
$15,000, a total the company matched. On
one day’s notice, staff also answered an
appeal to organize a barbecue that fed 300
hungry volunteers who were helping the
owners of flooded homes.
“It was really rewarding,” says Mr.
Purvis. “We felt like it was a small effort
that we could make to support the hun-
dreds of people who were getting their
hands dirty and cleaning up.”
BEFORE AND AFTER
Adam Moore, P.Eng., (above, blue coveralls) and a team of volunteers from NAL Resources lend a hand in High River,
cleaning two houses in one day. Among their tasks: shoveling mud, moving furniture and tearing up carpet.
-photos courtesy Adam Moore, P.Eng.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 64 ››

COVER
APEGA Director
Has ‘Critical,
Positive Impact’
From a helicopter 600 feet above Kananaskis Country, APEGA’s
Director, Corporate Services, gained new respect for the force
of the June 2013 floods. Malcolm Bruce, MSM, saw trees that had
been snapped like twigs, roads washed out of existence, bridges
wiped out.
“It was very sobering to see the extent of the damage,” recalls
Mr. Bruce.
Four days earlier, as much of southern Alberta was being
swamped by flood waters, Mr. Bruce got a call from an old friend
and former military colleague. Andre Corbould, P.Eng., had been
appointed Chief Assistant Deputy Minister of the Southern Alberta
Flood Recovery Task Force. Was Mr. Bruce available to help get the
task force up and running?
Mr. Bruce and APEGA’s executive were quickly on board.
“APEGA was looking at ways to assist and this seemed like a good
fit,” says Mr. Bruce, who works from APEGA’s Edmonton office. He
was seconded to the task force for two weeks.
“APEGA had a very critical, positive impact on the recovery
task force, starting from day one, by providing Malcolm’s expertise,”
says Mr. Corbould. “I had about four days to build a task force of
up to 80 people. At the same time I had to figure out what the task
force was going to do once it was built. So I reached out to APEGA
for a specific expertise and got great support.”
Mr. Bruce’s expertise comes out of 30 years in the military
with a focus on leadership and planning. The former commander of
CFB Suffield has five overseas missions under his belt, including
divisional level planning in Iraq with the British Forces and as a
chief of advisers in Afghanistan. He was involved in operational
planning during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver — but more
pertinently the 1997 Red
River flood in Manitoba
and the 2007 Fraser
River flood in B.C.
“My background and
experience have enabled
me to take a concept, an
idea, and bring it through
to fruition. That’s one of
the skillsets that I was
able to bring to the table,”
says Mr. Bruce.
His immediate role
was to help develop the
task force’s organiza-
tional structure and find
individuals from various
government departments to staff it. He also helped develop a model
for the provincial recovery framework.
The Alberta Emergency Management Agency was in charge of
the immediate response, but the task force was needed to quickly
take over recovery and rebuilding.
“It was a bit of a challenge to ensure that we had the right
people in place, but every ministry really stepped up to the plate.
“It was a bit of a challenge to ensure that
we had the right people in place, but every
ministry really stepped up to the plate. They
were really putting their best folks forward”
MALCOLM BRUCE, MSM
They were really putting their best folks forward,” says Mr. Bruce.
Within two week, the task force was about 70 per cent staffed
and Alberta Emergency Management Agency was beginning to
transition responsibility for some affected communities to the task
force. When Mr. Bruce’s work wrapped up on July 3, the task force
was fully operational.
“I’ve worked on a number of domestic operations in this
country and this was by far one of the best responses I’ve seen.
From the Premier right through to the folks affected on the ground,
people just wanted to do the right thing and get on with the job,”
says Mr. Bruce. “I met some tremendous individuals over the course
of the two weeks and I was very proud to be a small part of it.”
MALCOLM BRUCE, MSM

THE FUN ELEMENT
A contingent from Scheffer Andrew Ltd. is shown at the Alberta Flood Aid concert. From left are Ben Petch, Todd Boley, Ross Thurmeier, P.Eng., Matt Luik, P.Eng.,
and Angie Lucas.
-photo courtesy Matt Liuk, P.Eng.

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APEGA Members and permit holders are among those
who have opened their hearts and wallets to raise
money in straightforward — and creative — ways
Performers held benefit events, children set up lemonade stands,
and the Calgary Stampede sold more than 150,000 Hell or High
Water T-shirts. There were silent auctions, comedy nights, bake
sales, pancake breakfasts and even Alberta Rose doughnuts at Tim
Hortons.
Professional Members responded to an appeal on APEGA’s
website and donated more than $17,000 to flood relief efforts
through the Canadian Red Cross. APEGA permit holders large
and small were among the generous companies that not only
provided expertise and resources to flood-ravaged communities
— everything from cleaning supplies to fuel cards to pumping
services and volunteers — but also pledged thousands and even
millions of dollars to relief organizations. Many companies are
matching individual employee contributions.
John Henry, P.Eng., president and CEO of Calgary-based
Tarpon Energy Services, watched as floods inundated his home
town of High River. A company news release said Tarpon was
donating $10,000 to the Red Cross. “It’s overwhelming to see
the devastation . . . Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone
affected by the floods,” Mr. Henry said.
AltaLink announced on its website a $100,000 contribution
to the Calgary Foundation’s Flood Rebuilding Fund. “Like so
many others, we have been inspired by the spirit shown by
volunteers to help their neighbours as Alberta recovers from
this flood,” said Dennis Frehlich, P.Eng., AltaLink’s interim
president and CEO.
With a US $1 million contribution, ConocoPhillips was
among several corporations that announced seven-figure
donations. “So many people in southern Alberta have been
impacted by this disaster, and we want to support the
outstanding work that emergency responders and organizations
like the Red Cross have been doing, and will be doing over the
coming days and weeks,” said Ken Lueers, P.Geol., president of
ConocoPhillips Canada.
Among other permit-holding companies that donated are
• Agrium ($50,000)
• Apache Canada ($500,000)
• Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. ($1 million)
• Cenovus Energy Inc. ($1 million)
• Chevron Canada Resources ($150,000)
• Dow Chemical Canada, with Dow Agro Sciences ($100,000)
• Encana Corp.($500,000)
• Finning Canada, with Caterpillar Foundation ($150,000)
• Focus Corporation ($15,000)
• FortisAlberta Inc. ($100,000)
• General Electric Canada ($50,000)
• Husky Energy Inc. ($1 million)
• Imperial Oil, with Exxon Mobil ($500,000)
• Long Run Exploration Ltd., Phoenix Technology Services,
Cathedral Energy Services Ltd., Coral Hill Energy Ltd.,
Secure Energy Services Inc. and industry partners
($1 million)
• Noise Solutions ($10,000)
• Nova Chemicals Corporation ($100,000)
• Q9 Networks ($50,000)
• Shaw Communications ($1 million)
• Shell Canada ($550,000)
• Statoil Canada and PTTEP Canada Ltd. ($1 million)
• Suncor Energy Inc. ($1.5 million)
• Syncrude Canada Ltd. ($150,000)
• Viterra Inc. ($75,000).
Editor’s Note: APEGA staff went to a number of sources to find
out which of our permit holders made donations to flood relief,
but of course it was impossible to find out about them all. If your
company made a donation that is not acknowledged here, please
email the information to Gillian Bennett, editorial assistant,
gbennett@apega.ca, and we’ll make mention in The PEG or online.
If you have an interesting donation-in-
kind story to tell us, please
pass that information
along, too.
From Doughnuts to Dollars
mpany made a donation that is not acknowledged here, please
mail the information to Gillian Bennett, editorial assistant,
ennett@apega.ca, and we’ll make mention in The PEG or online.
you have an interesting donation-in-
nd story to tell us, please
ss that information
ong, too.

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SEARCH, RESCUE — AND INSPECT
Christopher Banbury, P.Eng., a volunteer with Canada
Task Force 2, inspects a C-Train bridge in Calgary
along Macleod Trail near Erlton/Stampede Station.
The bridge spans the Elbow River.
-photo courtesy Canada Task Force 2
“There were
massive piles
of donations in
the middle of the
gym. It was so
high it reached
half-way up the
ceiling. There
were no limits
to how generous
people had
been with their
donations.”
BINNU JEYA KUMAR, P.ENG.
Volunteer in Morley

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FROM HASHTAG TO HANDS
A few days after the flooding, Calgarian
Binnu Jeya Kumar, P.Eng., was checking
#YYC on Twitter when she saw a call for
volunteers in Morley, one of several First
Nations communities hit hard by flood
waters. She baked three dozen muffins
for volunteers, then headed out to deliver
them and see how else she could help.
“I ended up spending the day in the
high school gym in Morley where the
donations were coming in, helping sort the clothing and food. It
was a very inspiring day,” says Ms. Jeya Kumar. “There were
massive piles of donations in the middle of the gym. It was so
high it reached half-way up the ceiling. There were no limits to
how generous people had been with their donations.”
THE FEE WAIVING WAVE
In the aftermath of the flooding, the media reported that engineers
were walking around flooded neighbourhoods, volunteering
professional services. Calgary resident Naser Rabbani, P.Eng., was
one of them. He provided structural inspections on several severely
damaged homes in High River. It was just one small way he could
help victims who lost so much, he says.
“It was really sad to see all the destruction caused, although
the people I met were so strong and determined to move on,” says
Dr. Rabbani, who has a PhD in civil engineering.
THE SEARCH-AND-RESCUE ENGINEER
Canada Task Force 2 — CAN-TF2 for short — is a heavy, urban
search-and-rescue team of more than 100 firefighters, paramedics,
doctors and other professionals. All of them are volunteers. At the
request of the provincial government, the team responded to the
crisis.
“Every individual that you talk to has a story
that touches people’s hearts. They are
overwhelmed, but the helping hands give
them hope, more than anything. Everybody
has that sense of hope for the future.”
BASIR SALEH, P.ENG.
Stewart Weir
Among CAN-TF2’s ranks is a structural engineer, Edmonton-
based Christopher Banbury, P.Eng. Actually a U.S. resident, Mr.
Banbury came to Canada in 2011 on a work visa.
The flood was his first deployment with the task force. He
arrived in Calgary on June 22 in the midst of the disaster, and
spent six days assisting the city’s emergency operations centre by
inspecting bridges, flooded homes and commercial buildings.
“I wanted to do something to help, something to give back to
the community and to Canada, and this is one way I could do that
effectively,” says Mr. Banbury.
SONGS OF SUPPORT
Eight weeks after the flooding, APEGA Members were still giving
back. A team of volunteers from Scheffer Andrew Ltd. helped out
at the Alberta Flood Aid concert, Aug. 15 at Calgary’s McMahon
Stadium. The concert raised an estimated $1.5 million for the
Calgary Foundation’s Flood Rebuilding Fund. A variety of Canadian
acts from across the popular music spectrum performed, among
them Jann Arden, the Sadies, the Sheepdogs, Nickelback, Loverboy,
Ian Tyson and Colin James.
Says Matt Luik, P.Eng., the Calgary branch manager for Scheffer
Andrew: “As a firm of planners and engineers in the land develop-
ment industry, the flooding affected us and our clients personally and
professionally. Volunteering at such a great event was a fitting way to
give back to our community, and it was a lot of fun.”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 58 ››

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Flood Numbers
OVERALL
19
the day in June that flooding
starts in Canmore — the Great
Flood of 2013 is underway
150 to 200rainfall in
millimetres
in the upper portions of the Bow, Oldman
and Red Deer River basins
S300rainfall in millimetres in
the Sheep River basin
20the day in June that #abflood
begins trending on Twitter
29number of local states of
emergency declared
55,000total flood zone in
square kilometres
14,500homes damaged across
southern Alberta
2,700people still in temporary
housing, in hotels, or with
friends and family two months after the flooding
8,000applications for
disaster recovery relief
as of mid-August
10
number of years the
Government of Alberta
estimates full recovery may take
1 billion amount in dollars of Govern-
ment of Alberta’s initial, first-phase support
of flood recovery and reconstruction
5 billion+ dollars necessary
to rebuild damaged infrastructure
400
million damage in dollars
from the 2005 floods in Alberta
2,300Canadian Forces troops deployed
254
homes located in floodways
that may qualify for
government relocation funds
985kilometres of provincial roads
and bridges closed from damage
857kilometres of provincial roads and
bridges reopened as of Sept. 4
CALGARY
50,000residents evacuated
from 26 neighbourhoods
1,750
peak flow of Bow River in cubic
metres per second, which is
equal to about 100 million litres of water
flowing past every minute and is more than
twice the peak flow during the 2005 flood
2,500seats replaced in the Calgary
Scotiabank Saddledome
10rows of Saddledome flooded
650,000 hours crews put in
repairing Saddledome
5the September day the
Saddledome reopens
11 & 12 the September days the Eagles
perform at the Saddledome
20bridges closed
16 C-Train stations closed
3C-Traintunnels flooded
34,000 locations without power
1.5
time in days it takes to rebuild 0.3
lane-kilometres of MacLeod Trail
washed out by the Elbow River
12days to rebuild 100 metres of C-Train
lines destroyed by flood water
424 million
Estimated cost
in dollars to
repair damaged city infrastructure
45mm
Calgary rainfall on June
20, a one-day record
35.1mm
One day, previous record for
rainfall, set in 1964
160Calgary Zoo animals moved
to higher ground
HIGH RIVER
300residents who defied the
evacuation order
80%
of High
River
without
basic
services, such as water, electricity and
sewage, during the worst of the flooding
30
thousand tonnes of garbage taken
to Foothills Regional Landfill in
six weeks after the flood
300-400 tonnes of garbage taken to Foothills
Regional Landfill during an average month
2,050truckloads of debris
removed from High
River’s residential areas
CANMORE
120
homes damaged along
Cougar Creek, including 40
with structural damage
3§ Cougar Creek homes not
expected to be repairable
30width of Cougar Creek in metres
before the flood
150width of Cougar Creek in metres
after the flood
MEDICINE HAT
7,100+residents evacuated
1,000 estimated homes damages
5,460
peak
flow in
cubic
metres per second of the South
Saskatchewan River

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SIKSIKA FIRST NATION
170homes flooded
STONEY NAKODA NATION
700people evacuated
300homes flooded
TURNER VALLEY
46homes evacuated due to sour gas
pipeline leak, the result of debris in
the Sheep River damaging a flow line
6homes flooded
BRAGG CREEK
180 homes flooded
BLACK DIAMOND
66homes evacuated
61homes flooded
'1water treatment
plant destroyed
3 wells destroyed
KANANASKIS COUNTRY
740people evacuated from
campgrounds and other facilities
25aerial missions to rescue people
and deliver supplies
116people rescued by aerial missions
TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
6
time in days it takes to reopen high-
way to two-way traffic after major
washout between Canmore and Banff
EXSHAW
320people evacuated
120 homes flooded
Flood Recovery Leaders
Tell Their Stories —
And Outline Their Plans
In post-flood Alberta, Professional Engineers are crucial to
the recovery and rebuilding process. Meet four leaders whose
experience and skills are being put to the test as provincial and
municipal governments clean up and face the future

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Q&A with Andre Corbould, P.Eng., OMM
Chief Assistant Deputy Minister, Southern Alberta Flood
Recovery Task Force
B.Eng. (Civil Engineering), Royal Military College of Canada (1989)
Master’s Degree (Management), University of Canberra (2002)
Master’s Degree (Defence Management and Policy), Royal Military
College of Canada (2007)
Overseeing the widespread repair and rebuilding of flood-damaged
infrastructure is no simple task, but if anyone is up for this $5-billion
challenge, it’s Andre Corbould, P.Eng., a former brigadier-general in
the Canadian Forces. Over a 30-year military career, he worked as
an engineer and field commander on tours in Iraq, Kuwait, Bosnia,
East Timor and Afghanistan. In 2006, he worked with 24 Afghan
ministries to develop a national reconstruction plan; he returned
ALL PART OF THE JOB
Andre Corbould, P.Eng., briefs the media Aug. 22, during a Government of Alberta
announcement in Bragg Creek on floodway relocation compensation.
-photo by Joel Belizario, Government of Alberta
there in 2010 to command 20,000 troops with the United States
Army’s 10th Mountain Division.
Domestic operations he’s been involved in include the 1997
Winnipeg flood and the Swiss Air recovery in 1998. He also led
security forces at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. After
retiring from the army in 2012, Mr. Corbould transitioned to a new
public service role as Assistant Deputy Minister of Regional Services
for Alberta Transportation. His new marching orders came June 21
in the midst of the worst national disaster in Alberta’s history.
Edited and condensed for publication, the following interview looks at his
first few months on the Southern Alberta Flood Recovery Task Force.
The PEG: What was your role when the flooding began and how
did it evolve?
Andre Corbould: For the first 48 hours I was working with my
regional director in southern Alberta on initial flood response,
dealing with our maintenance contractors and assessing the damage.
I got a phone call at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 21, and was asked to
lead the recovery effort. By 1 o’clock I was over in the provincial
operations centre, absorbing everything that was going on.
The PEG: What were your initial goals?
ACMy job was to build a task force to eventually take over
for the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, as we
transitioned from the response to the recovery phase. On Saturday
and Sunday I spent all my effort working on my mission analysis,
putting together a draft provincial recovery framework plan to
present to the Premier and cabinet for approval.
The PEG: When did you begin putting the framework into action?
ACWe started the same week we put it together. Some
elements kicked in very early; in fact some elements were
already starting with the response force, in terms of enabling and
supporting local municipalities. Some of it will take a little longer
to kick in. It’s about varying degrees. For example, the long-term
greater mitigation planning and discussion has started and we’ve
done some work in High River to scrape the river. That’s the first
of several mitigation methods that will be put into action over the
next few years. We started almost immediately with some of these
actions and of course we go back and do more and more every day.
This is a long-term recovery and I’ve been told I’ll probably be with
the task force for at least a year.
The PEG: What are the top priorities for provincial infrastruc-
ture rebuilding?
ACWe’ve got a four-page list of critical infrastructure that
was damaged and it includes schools, hospitals, seniors’

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homes, roads, bridges, water and sewage
treatment plants. It probably took us about
three weeks to get a real good hard assess-
ment on all the provincial infrastructure that
was hit. We are clearly placing a priority
of effort on things like water and sewage
treatment plants and hospitals, because
those are essential to normalcy and healthy
living. The next level is schools. Our intent
is to make sure all schools are operational
before school starts in the fall.
The PEG: You spent some time touring the
flood zones. What did you see and how
did it compare to what you saw during the
Winnipeg floods?
ACTo see some of Highway 1 ripped
up and Highway 66 cut in half by
the force of water — it’s always surprising
to see the force of nature. That was the
initial shock. Winnipeg was different
because it was one large flooded area.
Alberta has many flooded areas with lots of
significant local impacts.
The PEG: Looking to the future, do
Professional Engineers need to change the
way they design public infrastructure to
deal with the impacts of climate change?
ACProfessional Engineers are always
changing the way that they design,
no matter what they’re doing. In my time at
Alberta Transportation, we were continually
looking at innovations and better ways of
doing things. The same is true of recovery
in a disaster. Every time one of these things
happens, we learn more about it and we
learn better ways of mitigating it. At the
provincial level, we’re definitely going to
work with others on what the best practices
are. I think there could be some designs that
come out of this that become best practices
around the world.
Gordon Stewart, P.Eng.
Recovery Director, City of Calgary
B.Sc. (Civil Engineering), University of
Calgary, 1973
Gordon Stewart, P.Eng., is no stranger to
managing big projects. In 2011 and 2012, he
oversaw the largest single infrastructure
project undertaken by the City of Calgary,
the $1.4 billion west LRT line. The city’s
director of transportation infrastructure, he
was in charge of the $295 million Airport
Tunnel Road project – the most expensive
road project in the city’s history — when
flood waters hit.
Two weeks later, on July 8, he was
named recovery director for his city, a role
that’s expected to last four to 12 months.
“This was never really in my career
plan,” he says, “but it actually allows me to
draw on a number of skills that I’ve devel-
oped over the years, working on capital
projects and in plant operations and emer-
gency services. So it’s a lot of little pieces
that kind of fit together.”
Over the past few months, his job has
been to come up with an action plan on how
to get displaced Calgarians back in their
homes and repair about $425 million in
damaged infrastructure.
“My approach is to tackle this like any
other complex problem — look at what the
issues are, evaluate them and bring together
a team to solve them,” says Mr. Stewart.
“There’s going to be a lot of work done by a
lot of people, and a good chunk of those will
be engineers.”
It’s a huge challenge, partly because
the problem isn’t fully defined yet.
“We’re working through the process
now in addressing the issues, whether they
be infrastructure issues or people issues.
We’re using frameworks that we’ve put
in place to manage projects, and this is a
project like other ones,” says Mr. Stewart.
A top priority has been repairing $25
million in damaged roadways. Final repairs
to most of the city’s major transportation
infrastructure wrapped up around mid-
August. But damage to pedestrian bridges,
buildings, wastewater treatment plants,
riverbanks, paths, parkland, athletic fields
and outdoor pools will take months and
possibly years to repair or replace.
“Part of the recovery effort is de-
termining to what standards we should
construct,” says Mr. Stewart. To that end,
the city has established an expert panel to
investigate ways to reduce and manage
future flood risks.
“We’ll be looking at some of the mitiga-
TICK IT OFF THE LIST
Gordon Stewart, P.Eng., recovery director for the City
of Calgary, stands in front of the south line at Erlton/
Stampede Station, where a 100-metre stretch of tracks
destroyed by flooding was completely rebuilt in less than
two weeks.

COVER
tion strategies we should do on a larger scale,” he says. “Should we
build berms or protection walls? Obviously there are things that can
be done, and that’s what we’ll have to identify.”
And there’s a big pair of questions always in play: “What does
that cost and where does that money come from?”
Andy Esarte, P.Eng.
Disaster Recovery Team Infrastructure Lead, Town of Canmore
B.E.Sc. (Civil Engineering), University of Western Ontario, 2003
After experiencing two major floods in Canmore over the past
two years, Andy Esarte, P.Eng., has a whole new appreciation for
Mother Nature.
In early June 2012, flooding along Cougar Creek in the
picturesque mountain town eroded banks and damaged pathways,
causing $1.3 million in damage. Just over a year later, a flash
flood on the same creek wreaked much more havoc, washing out
highways and damaging 120 homes along its banks. The creek
grew from 40 metres wide to more than 100 metres wide in some
spots. This time, the damage is expected to reach $10 million.
Officials were still tallying the tab two months later.
“Last year was supposed to be a big one. We responded to it
fairly aggressively and spent $3.2 million on flood mitigation. That
was a really large program for a town our size,” says Mr. Esarte, the
town’s manager of engineering.
The mitigation included additional armouring along 800 metres
of creek bank, with more work planned for 2014. But on June
19, rushing water laden with boulders and trees washed out the
armouring and the banks it was protecting.
“It was humbling,” says Mr. Esarte. “It’s raised my awareness
of how important it is to better understand our natural environment
and to protect ourselves as best we can — but also that there are
limits to what you can do with engineering.”
GROUND ZERO
Mr. Esarte and town officials were monitoring the weather on June
19 and knew a significant storm system was on its way. At 4 p.m.,
on his way to an evening meeting, he checked on Cougar Creek.
It was dry — the norm other than during spring runoff or heavy
storms. When he returned around 10:30 p.m., water was starting to
flow, carrying with it debris that was already blocking culverts.
Suddenly, both the TransCanada Highway and Highway 1A
were flooded. Shortly after that, the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks
washed out.
Mr. Esarte and the town’s engineering department, alongside
local engineering consultants and other emergency personnel,
started a race to save Elk Run Boulevard and the Three Sisters
Parkway — the only routes left to bring supplies to the town. Both
were in danger of being washed out.
“When I was standing on the Elk Run culvert, a large section
of armouring that protects the culvert inlet sloughed into the creek.
The armouring had been in place for decades. It was pretty clear at
that point that this was different from the storm that had washed
out the CP tracks in the past, and that it was different from anything
we had ever experienced,” says Mr. Esarte.
Time: not even 1 a.m.
Soon after, the town began evacuating residents along the
creek and by 3:40 a.m. its emergency operations centre went live.
It took a couple of days for the town to stabilize Elk Run
Boulevard and Three Sisters Parkway, but they were able to keep
those vital outside links open for deliveries and emergency services.
“We worked around the clock for two and a half days before
it was stable. I think in the first four days, I had something like 15
hours of sleep,” says Mr. Esarte. In the first week after the event,
about 25 engineers from the town and surrounding communities
offered support with road infrastructure, bridge inspections
and other issues, including repairs to the water and wastewater
treatment plants.
WORKING THROUGH THE LIST
As of early September, all but 13 homes were safe for occupation,
says Mr. Esarte. Three houses may have to be demolished and 40
had structural damage. The disaster recovery team is working its
way down a long list of small, medium and major projects to repair
damaged infrastructure, including roads, bridges, culverts and banks.
As part of the recovery efforts, channel restoration was
undertaken on Cougar Creek to manage any summer storms. The
town has also hired an engineering firm to develop the Mountain
Creek Flood Mitigation Plan, to better understand how mountain
creeks behave and to identify steps that can be taken to reduce
future risk.
IN THE SCENE
Andy Esarte, P.Eng., inspects riprap at the centre of the historic Canmore Engine
Bridge over the Bow River. Pier armouring there was damaged in the flood and
requires repair before next flood season.
-photo courtesy Andy Esarte, P.Eng.

COVER
Rick Vincent, P.Eng.
Senior Project Manager, High River
Recovery Project
B.Sc. (Mechanical Engineering), University of
Waterloo, 1984
Like many of the displaced High River
homeowners his team is helping, Rick
Vincent, P.Eng., is currently living away
from home. A resident of Kelowna, B.C.,
he’s staying full-time in High River in a
temporary camp while his company, Tervita
Corporation, coordinates remediation
efforts in the flood-ravaged town. High
River remained under a local state of
emergency, more than two months after
flooding began. His stay in Alberta will last
about six months.
Not that he’s complaining.
“I think the people side of this whole
project has been the most rewarding part,”
says Mr. Vincent. “There are people here
who have been out of their homes for a
number of weeks. It’s been quite a challenge
for many residents and I really appreciate
the opportunity to be here and to be able to
help them.”
Tervita was awarded a $45-million
Government of Alberta contract on July
18, but Mr. Vincent was on the ground in
Calgary weeks before, leading cleanup
at the Saddledome, where flood waters
reached the eighth row of seats and caused
major damage to mechanical systems.
That was a warm up for the extensive
repair work being done in High River on
damaged homes, roads, bridges, sewer
lines, storm ponds, river banks and parks.
“We’ve been working seven days a
week here since we arrived. It’s been pretty
intense but we’ve made some great prog-
ress,” says Mr. Vincent.
By the end of August, Tervita had
assessed about 370 High River homes
deemed by Alberta Health Services as NFH
— Not Fit for Habitation. Many of these had
sat for weeks in stagnant, contaminated
flood water. “We go in with an environmen-
tal consultant and a structural engineer, and
they determine a scope of work that is re-
quired to rescind that NFH order and make
the home safe again,” says Mr. Vincent.
Tervita crews execute the work, which
often includes mould remediation and re-
pairs to structural damage. By the end of
August, 34 NFH homes had been remedi-
ated, with homeowners given the thumbs up
to begin renovations. Work was in progress
on more than 100 homes.
“We are trying to get people back
in their homes as soon as possible, so
we have a large number of crews on the
ground,” says Mr. Vincent.
The company is also conducting and
overseeing repairs to public infrastructure.
It removed silt and debris from more than
45 kilometres of storm sewers and began
scalping 60,000 cubic metres of gravel,
sediment and debris from the Highwood
River to improve flow.
A request for proposals has been
issued for storm pond restoration, to
improve their ability to take on large storm
water flows. This may include emptying the
ponds to remove silt deposited by the flood,
then digging them deeper.
Other projects include road and bridge
repairs. Sinkholes are appearing, and some
bridges are so damaged they may have to
be taken down and rebuilt. Plenty of general
cleanup is still going on as well, including
silt removal on roads and parkland.
“At this point we’ve done a good situa-
tion appraisal of the town and we’ve identi-
fied the areas that need to be addressed.
We’re working with the Alberta Government
and the Town of High River to understand
their priorities and receive authorization to
proceed with the work,” says Mr. Vincent.
Even though he has 25 years of project
management experience, the extent of the
damage is shocking. “I’ve certainly never
entered into an area like this,” he says.
As an engineer, the biggest challenge
has been the fast-track nature of the
project. “Prior to arriving, we had a very
short time to determine the scope of work
and develop a plan to execute the work as
quickly as possible,” says Mr. Vincent. “But
when you talk to residents and see that
your work is having a positive impact, that
makes it all worthwhile. That’s a very cool
part of the project.”
GET THOSE PEOPLE HOME
A top priority for Tervita is getting displaced High River
residents back in their homes as soon as possible, says
senior project manager Rick Vincent, P.Eng.
-photo courtesy Tervita Corporation

Editor’s Note: The facts in this story come
from a number of sources — our own
research, information published by multiple
media outlets, and government press releases.
Five billion dollars and counting. That’s the
financial cost estimate — so far — for what
is reportedly the worst flooding in the prov-
ince’s history. What can’t be measured in
dollars is the human toll. Four people died.
About 100,000 were evacuated. In all, 30
communities were affected by floods, and
2,700 people were still out of their perma-
nent homes as The PEG went to press.
The provincial government estimates
that up to 10 years will pass before the
recovery is complete. To get the process
started, it committed an initial $1 billion to
recovery and rebuilding.
“There is a significant amount of
damage and Premier Redford has been very
clear from the beginning that the recovery
process is going to be a long process,”
says Andre Corbould, P.Eng., the Assistant
Deputy Minister of the Southern Alberta
Flood Recovery Task Force.
Insurance companies are expected
Tallying Up the Damage
to cover $1.7 billion of the $5-billion price
tag. Municipalities and the provincial
government will have to cover the rest, up
front, although the federal government is
expected to eventually reimburse as much
as 90 per cent.
In mid-July, the Alberta Government
released its Provincial Recovery Framework
to guide intermediate and long-term recov-
ery, helping individuals, municipalities and
First Nations get back to normal as quickly
as possible. On Aug. 29, Finance Minister
Doug Horner provided the first fiscal update
since the flooding hit. He told the media that
$148 million had been spent on flood relief
to date and another $556 million has been
earmarked for recovery efforts.
The province’s list of damaged public
infrastructure includes
• 80 schools
• eight hospitals and health facilities
• 10 seniors’ housing facilities
• 40 wastewater and waterworks systems
• 985 kilometres of roads and bridges.
The province will also spend millions
of dollars on disaster assistance to help
SOGGY VIEW
Siksika children look over their flooded community on
June 22. As of Sept. 4, the number of Albertans living in
temporary housing in High River and on the Siksika First
Nation was 950.
-photo courtesy Cory Alston, Siksika Media
Albertans rebuild their homes and busi-
ness. An estimated 14,500 homes were
flooded and more than 8,200 applications
for disaster recovery support had already
been processed as of Sept. 4.
The province says 2,700 people —
most from Calgary, High River and Siksika
First Nation — are living in temporary
housing, in hotels or with friends and family.
An unknown number of homes are so badly
damaged they’ll have to be demolished;
assessments are still taking place.
In Calgary, the city estimates it will
cost at least $425 million for infrastructure
repairs, and possibly more. That includes
• $25 million for road repairs
• $10 million to repair or replace nine
damaged and destroyed pedestrian
bridges
• $26.5 million for corporate buildings like
the municipal building and the old city hall

• $34 million to restore riverbanks
• $18 million to repair the Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment
Plant.
Sixty-five kilometres south in High River, an estimated
600 homes were declared NFH — Not Fit for Habitation — until
remediation work is completed. More than 2,050 truckloads filled
with soaked drywall, water heaters, ducts, sodden furniture and
other debris have been taken to the landfill. The province has
awarded Tervita Corporation with a $45-million contract to begin
the immediate cleanup and recovery in the community, where some
neighbourhoods sat under water for three weeks.
To the east, the community of Medicine Hat watched the flood-
water coming, and enlisted 400 Canadian Forces soldiers and local
volunteers to build protective barriers. Despite their efforts, the city
pegs damage at around $72 million.
Smaller communities were also devastated. Water from the
Bow River forced 1,000 people from their homes on the Siksika
First Nation. Families were evacuated to relief shelters but some
camped on nearby hills, watching the flood waters flow through the
valley below.
Creeks inundated the tiny mountain community of Exshaw,
where more than 75 per cent of about 120 homes were affected by
the flooding. At the end of August, 22 families were still displaced.
A video on YouTube showed the roof of a Bragg Creek home float-
ing down the Elbow River and smashing into a bridge.
Despite the devastation, there is good news. Much of the dam-
aged infrastructure was quickly repaired, and the Greatest Outdoor
Show on Earth — albeit a scaled back version — went ahead.
After a 100 metres of C-Train line were washed out in Calgary,
the city had the tracks fixed in just under two weeks, at a cost of
$8.2 million. Right beside the tracks, a jagged gash that opened on
MacLeod Trail on June 21 was patched in time for morning rush
hour on June 26. Fifty per cent of damaged roads were reopened by
June 25; 95 per cent by June 27.
At Stampede Park fairgrounds, where flooding caused massive
damage, crews worked for days to ensure that the show would go
ahead on July 5.
For the provincial government, one milestone on the road to
recovery was the reopening of the Highway 22 Sheep River Bridge
on July 12. Flooding had nearly covered the bridge structure and
washed out the approach ramp, turning the three-kilometre trip
from Turner Valley to Black Diamond into a 40-minute detour.
Crews worked every daylight hour to rechannel the river, construct
a berm, restore the bridge head slopes, backfill abutments and
construct an approach road. A project that normally would have
taken three months was done in three weeks.
Of the 985 kilometres of provincial roads and bridges
closed, 857 were reopened by mid-August. On Sept. 4, another
22-kilometre-stretch of Highway 40 in Kananaskis Country
reopened to backcountry enthusiasts. Contractors had to clear
debris that scraped the roadway, plugging culverts and ditches.
Repairs included regrading damaged sections of the highway.
At three schools in the region with extensive flood damage,
classes began as scheduled on Sept. 3 — although 950 students
were in temporary classrooms.
“We’re going to work hard, we’re going to focus on priorities,
and we’re not wasting time in getting on with making decisions. But
not withstanding that, it’s not something that’s going to be done in a
couple of months,” said Mr. Corbould.
THE SHOW WILL GO ON
The racetrack and infield at the Calgary Stampede grounds were hit by eight to 14 feet of water. Despite the extensive flood damage, hundreds of contractors and volunteers worked
around the clock so the Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth could go ahead on July 5.
-photo courtesy City of Calgary
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Tales from
the Frontlines
At the height of flooding in southern
Alberta, Professional Engineers
were working on the frontlines to
ensure public safety and protect
infrastructure. Civil engineers from
Canmore and High River share their
experiences
The call came in at 3:30 a.m. on June 20,
waking Darin Langhorst, P.Eng., from a
sound sleep. It was the Town of Canmore
emergency operations centre on the line.
“The phone call went something like,
‘Darin, we need you up at Elk Run Boulevard
and Cougar Creek as soon as possible. We
think the creek is going to take out Elk Run
Boulevard,” recalls Mr. Langhorst.
He was onsite 15 minutes later in his
rain gear and safety vest. It was the start
of a two-day battle to keep the road — a
vital transportation link for the mountain
community — from washing away.
LIKE ANY OTHER STORM — AT FIRST
It had started raining the night before, a
medium, steady rain that didn’t raise any
alarm bells. “It just looked like any other
storm,” says Mr. Langhorst. “The storm
systems were able to drink it, just like
normal. The abnormal part of it was that
higher up, in the alpine, we still had snow
pack and that snow pack was also getting
melted with the rain.”
A heavy rainfall warning had been
issued, calling for 100 to 150 millimetres.
Days later, Mr. Langhorst learned that
some rain gauges in the area had measured
rainfall of 200 to 300 millimetres in the 30
hours or so leading up to the flooding.
“We had this firehose of rain pouring
down and Canmore was in the epicentre
of where all this moisture was dropping
down,” he says.
Overnight, the town declared a state
of emergency and began calling in local
engineers, contractors and emergency
personnel. Parts of the TransCanada High-
BOULEVARD BLUES
When flooding hit, engineers and contractors raced to save Elk Run Boulevard in Canmore, a vital transportation link
after the Trans-Canada and Highway 1A were washed out. The road crosses Cougar Creek. The water raged on June
20 (top photo), but the creek was dry days later (bottom photo).
-photos courtesy Darin Langhorst, P.Eng.

COVER
way, Highway 1A and the Canadian Pacific
Railway tracks had been washed out, and
Cougar Creek was recklessly carving a new
path through the valley.
Suddenly Elk Run Boulevard was the
only remaining east-west route in the Bow
Valley. Officials knew it was now imperative
to keep the two-lane residential road open
to bring in food, fuel and other supplies,
not to mention materials for rebuilding
and repairs when the crisis was over. It
was also the only way for residents to be
evacuated from the east side of the creek.
Trouble was, it’s the only street in Can-
more that crosses Cougar Creek, and the
flash flood was doing its best to wipe it out.
“Cougar Creek was a massive, raging
torrent of brown water with trees and huge
boulders rolling down from the mountain-
side. It was a roar of water – like constant
thunder. A lot of the creek bank armouring
was already long gone,” says Mr. Langhorst.
Two track hoes already on site began
chucking landscape boulders and trees
around the arch culvert that passes under
the road, their operators trying to slow the
erosion. It was a bit like plugging a dike
with a finger.
“Water was chewing on the backsides
of the wing walls quite heavily. We were
losing a lot of pavement on the upstream
side and water was close to overtopping the
road,” he says.
By sunrise, though, there was a shift in
the tide when big trucks arrived and began
dumping in loads of large rocks from local
quarries. The work continued over the next
two days until the water levels dropped and
the rocks started staying in place.
A week later, the creek was dry again.
THIMBLES OF ROCK
“Awestruck is a word that comes to mind,”
says Mr. Langhorst. “To see the amount
of material the water moved in a day, and
then we come in with our tiny trackhoes
and start scooping in thimbles full of rock.
It will take us weeks and weeks and weeks
to get back some of what the water moved
in a day.”
Mr. Langhorst’s employer, McElhanney
Consulting, is one of several firms doing
recovery work in the area. The company is
working in the Eagle Terrace community,
which McElhanney’s branch manager Ron
Sadesky, P.Eng., helped design about 15
years ago. The neighbourhood is along
Cougar Creek and suffered major damage
to utilities and roads.
“Even after four to five weeks, we were
still finding new things that were broken.
Storm pipes downstream under Benchlands
Trail got packed full of massive rocks,” says
Mr. Langhorst. “So even though it looks like
we’re fixing this canyon in the road, the
damage underground extended way further
than what you can see on the streetscape.”
Despite living a few hundred metres
from Cougar Creek — his home wasn’t
damaged — Mr. Langhorst has no plans to
leave Canmore any time soon. “I’m happy
to stay right here, knowing that Canmore
is working to protect itself from things like
this in the future,” he says.
‘WE’RE GOING TO REBUILD’
A month before High River’s 13,000 resi-
dents were evacuated and the town became
a disaster zone, Reiley McKerracher, P.Eng.,
was at an open house helping unveil a new
flood model of the Highwood River.
The long-awaited model was to be the
first step in the town’s Flood Management
Master Plan, a strategy to limit the impact
of flooding from the Highwood River, which
cuts a meandering path through the centre
of town and has overflowed its banks four
times in the past 20 years.
Now it’s back to the drawing board as
High River rebuilds from the June 20 flood
that dumped billions of litres of water into
the community and left a wide swath of
destruction in its wake. “This kind of threw
a monkey wrench into everything,” says Mr.
McKerracher.
As the town’s engineering manager,
he helped oversee a dewatering process,
which had officials fighting for days and
weeks to drain contaminated flood water
from hundreds of swamped homes and
businesses.
He was at a workshop in Calgary when
the flooding began. “Things were moving
very fast,” he says. “The flood came in a
lot faster than expected. In past events,
particularly ’95, ’05, and ’08, the river gave
us quite a bit of warning. It came up slowly,
and it was something we were prepared
for. In this case, it came in a matter of
hours and surprised everyone.”
HIGH RIVER BY THE NUMBERS
• Time for Highwood River to peak: 8.5
hours
• Width of river: 1.34 km (35 times its
usual width)
• Land inundated by water: 11.5 km2
(59 per cent)
• Town structures affected by water:
Up to 70 per cent
• Lift stations affected: 13
• Power lines/substations damaged: 5
per cent
• Communications infrastructure
damaged: 50 per cent
• Gas Lines Broken: 4

COVER
Hundreds of residents were trapped in their homes by the
creeping river and had to be rescued by motorboat, helicopter,
front-end loaders, combines and canoes. People watched as sub-
merged cars and trees floated down the streets. By 4:15 p.m. on
June 20, the town issued a mandatory evacuation order for all
13,000 residents. Water was up to six metres high in some areas.
“The amount of water we are talking about was just mind
boggling,” says Mr. McKerracher.
Much of the water drained on its own. But on the north side
of town, in the hardest hit communities of Hampton Hills, Sunshine
Meadows and Sunrise, the water had to be pumped out of the
streets and drained into the nearby Little Bow canal.
By Friday, officials started building berms at Second Avenue
and Highway 543 to try to speed up the pumping. The decision meant
floodwater from Sunrise drained into Hampton Hills, a move that
angered many residents.
In the end, massive industrial pumps were brought in to dry the
WATER BEGONE
On July 16, nearly one month after the flood hit High River, pumps were still sending
flood water into the town’s canal system. Riley McKerracher, P.Eng., oversaw
dewatering.
town out. By Sunday, a local oilfield contractor, Canadian Dewater-
ing, was onsite assembling several pumps, including three of the
largest in North America, with 24-inch intakes.
“To our knowledge, there are only four of these pumps in
Canada. Three of them were on site here in High River,” says
Mr. McKerracher. “Two of them came from a working job in Fort
McMurray. Suncor gave them up willingly to try and help us out.”
Getting the pump systems up and running took about a week
and a half, even with fusing crews putting pipe together 24 hours
a day. Once they were online, pumps at three different sites were
draining roughly 473,000 litres per minute into the canal at peak
capacity. From the Hampton Hills site alone, the pumps were
removing 300,000 litres per minute, or enough to fill an Olympic-
sized swimming pool every 10 minutes.
Sunshine was the first area dewatered, followed by Sunrise
and finally Hampton Hills — it took three weeks in total. One month
after the flooding, pumps were still removing 68,000 litres per
minute from a field north of town.
It was a long, challenging process, added onto other issues the
town was facing, including power outages, sewage backups, a boil
water advisory, and damage to its wastewater lift stations, roads,
bridges and river banks.
“I grew up here. I’ve worked for the town for roughly three and
a half years,” says Mr. McKerracher. “It was pretty rough to see
people you know well who have lost everything. A lot of people have
endured a lot of hardship. But we’re going to rebuild. We’ll try and
do it better.”
The town is seeking funding from the province for flood
mitigation projects to protect the downtown and northwest areas
of the community. Work could begin by mid-September and be
completed before winter. The plan is to repair and modify local
dikes and to build berms large enough to withstand a repeat of this
year’s flood. The town is still calculating just how large the event
was — all its gauge stations were washed out, so high water marks
are being used.
“We had originally designed everything to a one-in-100 event.
With this recent event, which dwarfed what we previously had
planned for, we have to change what we design for in the future,”
says Mr. McKerracher.
PLAN WITH CONFIDENCE
BUILD WITH CONTROL
SMART SOLUTIONS
Risk Analysis
Project Management
Value Engineering
Simulation Modelling
Systems Improvement
www.smaconsulting.ca

COVER
‘Our Number One
Concern Was
Public Safety’
Flooding takes a huge toll on transportation
infrastructure, but reopenings are quick and plentiful
Five days into the flooding, near the intersection of the Trans-Canada
and Highway 56, the Crowfoot Ferry seemed ready to break loose
and perhaps even take out a dam. Docked along the Bow River, one
of its cable towers had collapsed. The only thing holding the ferry in
place was the Caterpillar D7 bulldozer it was anchored to.
“The whole area of the river crossing had become a gigantic
lake, and our ferry was floating in the middle of the lake,” recalls
Fred Lee, P.Eng., who helped coordinate emergency flood response
for Alberta Transportation in the province’s southwest region.
“We were really worried that the ferry would break off and hit the
Bassano Dam about 12 kilometres downstream.”
A military dive team was sent in to assess the situation. The
team gave the word: all clear, the dozer would hold.
On to the next issue.
Rising water, washouts and slides had already forced the
closure of numerous roads and bridges. “Our number one concern
was public safety. We didn’t want people getting stranded or hurt,”
says Mr. Lee, who worked closely with highway maintenance
contractors and municipalities.
Among the many challenges on his plate during the crisis were
• Trans-Canada Highway by Canmore washed out by Cougar
Creek
• Highway 1A cut open to divert flood water away from Exshaw
• The entire Sheep River Bridge at Highway 22 nearly covered in
water, its road abutments washed away
• A 600-metre section of Highway 758 lost to the Elbow River
• Huge chunks missing from bridges on Highway 66 and 40.
And that’s just a partial list.
As flood waters receded, the focus shifted from response to
recovery. Opening the Trans-Canada was at the top of Mr. Lee’s
to-do list. “At one point we had 24 pieces of heavy equipment
operating there,” he says. “We had the highway reopened in six
days. A lot of people said it would take a month to repair, but we got
CONTINUED ON PAGE 80 ››

COVER
WASHED AWAY
After parts of the Trans-Canada Highway were washed out, restoring the
major route became a top priority for Alberta Transportation. Crews had the
highway reopened to two-way traffic within six days; at one point, 24 pieces of
heavy equipment were on-site fixing the damage.
-photo courtesy Jacob Johnson, C.E.T., Town of Canmore
“We had the highway
reopened in six days.
A lot of people said it
would take a month
to repair, but we got
all our people out
there, came up with
solutions and acted
on them right away.”
FRED LEE, P.ENG.
Flood Responder for Alberta Transportation

COVER
Top-Notch Water
Treatment Proves
its Worth
Chocolate milk — those are words Dan Limacher,
P.Eng., uses to describe the Bow River in Calgary at
the peak of the flooding. Yet in the midst of the crisis,
the city was able to continuing turning that chocolate
milk into clean, safe drinking water for its 1.1 million
residents. How did the city do that?
Silt, mud and organic debris washed down from the mountains
during the June floods, creating challenges for water treatment
across southern Alberta. The Province of Alberta’s water
infrastructure was significantly impacted, with damage to more
than 50 dams, canals, water and wastewater treatment plants,
wells, fish hatcheries and other waterworks systems.
Municipalities were slammed, too. In Black Diamond, the water
treatment plant was destroyed. Boil water orders were issued
in several communities where systems simply couldn’t keep up,
including Canmore, High River and Exshaw.
Noticeably absent from the boil water list is Calgary.
Dan Limacher, P.Eng., Calgary’s director of water services,
was among many city and other officials keeping a close watch on
the Bow and Elbow rivers. The city has two water treatment plants.
The Bearspaw, on the Bow, produces two-thirds of its usable water,
and the Glenmore, on the Elbow, produces the rest.
“As we hit the morning of June 20, we knew that we were
going to see some really significant flows in both the rivers,” he
says. “We have about a 10-hour notice of what’s coming from
upstream, which allowed our plants to get ready for the increasing
flows and turbidity levels.”
Water clarity for raw Bow water deteriorated to 4,000
nephelometric turbidity units, which is well beyond what the plants
usually treat. The seasonal norm is 10 NTUs — so turbidity was 400
times that. In winter, turbidity hovers at around one NTU.
‘THICK AND NASTY’
Mr. Limacher likened the Bow’s water to chocolate milk you’d
never want to drink. “It was really thick, nasty water to treat. If
you combine the organic level with the amount of silt, it was a
significant water treatment challenge we were faced with,” says
Mr. Limacher.
Peak river flows in Calgary were about four times higher
than during the last major flood, in 2005. On the Bow, water raged
by at 1,750 cubic metres per second; the normal for June is less
than 500 cubic metres per second. The Elbow River below the
Glenmore Reservoir moved at 700 m3/s; June levels are normally
around 150 m3/s.
DRINK UP, CALGARY
Dan Limacher, P.Eng., Calgary’s director of water services, holds treated water at the
Bearspaw Water Treatment Plant. Plant operators and engineers worked non-stop
during the flood to ensure the city’s supply of safe drinking water carried on.

Fortunately, the city’s water treatment infrastructure is state-
of-the-art. Major upgrades were completed at Bearspaw in 2007,
followed by similar ones at Glenmore in 2011. Both projects resulted
in big improvements to the water treatment process. Calgary Mayor
Naheed Nenshi told reporters that those infrastructure investments
are what prevented boil water advisories and major water restric-
tions in the city.
Mr. Limacher agrees. “The really big story is that we have
really remarkable pre-treatment facilities at both the Bearspaw and
Glenmore water treatment plants,” he says. “Professional engineers
were hugely involved in the design and construction of these
fantastic facilities, and we had city engineers involved, as well,
working with operators to address significant treatment challenges
during the crisis itself.”
Both plants were able to handle the enormous load of silt and
organics entering the system. “We had to slow the plants down a
little bit, but they made water that was easily within our drinking
water guidelines. Even at 4,000 NTU coming in, we were still
making water at 0.05 NTU,” says Mr. Limacher.
Calgarians were asked restrict their water use for a week due
to the reduced output. “We asked for citizens’ help with the water-
use restrictions, and they responded terrifically,” says Mr. Limacher.

COVER
all our people out there, came up
with solutions and acted on them
right away.”
Damage to Alberta Transporta-
tion’s road and bridge infrastructure
is still being tallied. Thirty major
bridges require significant repairs,
plus numerous smaller ones. Many are now open but require fur-
ther work, while others remain closed.
Sections of highway totalling about 985 kilometres were closed
due to flood damage, which ranged from complete highway wash-
outs to bridge damage and destruction. By mid-August traffic had
returned to 830 kilometres of highway, although much repair work
continues.
“This is totally unprecedented. We’ve never seen anything like
this,” says Mr. Lee. “We’re actually pretty happy that everything
stood as well as it did and we were able to repair most of the
damage within about three weeks.”
MEANWHILE BACK IN CALGARY
Craig MacFarlane, P.Eng., chief structures engineer with the City
of Calgary, was busy keeping a close eye on the city’s 24 vehicle
bridges, three C-Train bridges and 25 pedestrian bridges, which, in
a normal situation, allow cars, trains and people to safely cross the
Bow and Elbow rivers.
“I was coordinating a lot from my car, out in the field. For the
first week of the event we were inspecting all of our river bridges
daily,” he says. “Personally, I’ve experienced a few floods, but
nothing to this extent. I was sure glad we had our bridge resources
coordinated ahead of time and everybody available on a moment’s
notice to go out and inspect structures.”
About 10 Professional Engineers and two technicians were
doing inspections. Road maintenance workers and Calgary police
were calling in reports on rapidly changing river conditions.
“With high water levels, there’s only a limited amount of the
bridge you can see. We were watching to ensure the water and
debris didn’t come up onto the superstructure — the deck — because
it isn’t designed to take stream flow or debris,” says Mr. MacFarlane.
Another concern was the potential for scour or settlement.
Scour happens when fast water washes away gravel around bridge
abutments or piers. When the Bonnybrook rail bridge over the Bow
River buckled on June 27 and caused six tanker cars to derail,
engineers with Canadian Pacific Railway said the cause was scour
from flood waters. CP inspects its own bridges and didn’t detect any
problems above the water.
But for the city’s bridges, scour didn’t cause issues, says
Mr. MacFarlane. “All of our bridges are either founded directly on
bedrock or on piles going into bedrock,” he explains.
In fact, all the city’s traffic bridges remained structurally safe
throughout the flooding. “We didn’t have any bridges that were
in any structural distress, apart from the three small pedestrian
bridges on the Elbow River that were completely destroyed by the
high water,” says Mr. MacFarlane. Another six pedestrian bridges
suffered minor damage.
Several traffic bridges were closed at the height of the crisis,
but that was primarily because adjacent roads were flooded, or
because officials wanted to limit access into areas such as the
downtown, parts of which were under water.
The only major washout was at Scollen Bridge, which connects
the Mission and Erlton communities. Debris caught on the piers,
forcing the Elbow River to flow around it. Other damage included
a few sinkholes around some bridge abutments and some bank
erosion.
Several weeks after the flood, precautionary bridge inspections
continued. The city initiated a scour study to map the new
topography of river bottoms. There were also plans to send in an
underwater diver to inspect bridge piers once water levels dropped.
As for the city’s roads, about 20 kilometres of blacktop was
damaged, costing $25 million to repair.
HIGH AND FAST
The Bow River rushes over a walkway near
the Centre Street Bridge in Calgary during the
June flooding, the speed of the flow character-
ized by the photographer’s use of a slow shut-
ter speed. The lower car deck of the bridge
was flooded, but the iconic landmark remained
structurally sound.
-photo by Ryan L. C. Quan
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 76 ››

COVER
“It’s actually holding up pretty well.”
Those were Mark Schuh’s thoughts on the
evening of June 19 as he checked the new
armouring along Cougar Creek, installed
by the town the previous fall. Rain was
pouring hard and the creek, normally dry,
was coming to life.
The 22-year-old was weeks away
from wrapping up a 12-month intern-
ship with the Town of Canmore. Soon
Mr. Schuh, a University of Calgary civil
engineering student, would be thrust into
a natural disaster, receiving a level of
internship he could barely have imagined
only hours earlier.
He awoke on June 20 to learn that a
state of emergency had been declared and
that residents in his Cougar Creek neigh-
bourhood were being evacuated. “When I
walked down to the creek to check it out,
the first thing I saw was those backyards
getting washed away,” says Mr. Schuh.
The armouring, needless to say, was
long gone.
His own basement suite on Moraine
Lake Road wasn’t affected. Mr. Schuh
grabbed food and a sleeping bag before
being bused to the local high school,
then walked to the town’s emergency
operations centre to see how he could
help. He was quickly put to work
patrolling flood sites that were stable but
needed monitoring.
“I made the rounds and reported back
where and when we might need resources
— equipment and people. Riprap here,
sandbags there. What can we do for this
person? Things of that nature, nothing
major,” he says. “It was pretty non-stop
for those two or three days.”
Among the lessons he learned during
the crisis were the importance of clear,
concise communication, and how to think
fast on your feet.
“Everywhere I went people were
asking questions and wanting information,
wanting to show me what their house was
“I made the rounds and reported
back where and when we might need
resources — equipment and people.
Riprap here, sandbags there. What can
we do for this person? Things of that
nature, nothing major. It was pretty
non-stop for those two or three days.”
MARK SCHUH
University of Calgary Engineering Student
Flood Disaster Work Experience:
Be In Flood, Get to Work
Internships help students put what they learn in the classroom into practice in the real world. For University of Calgary
civil engineering student Mark Schuh, that happened in a big, wet and devastating way. And what he learned from the
experience is something you can’t get from a textbook
like. It was almost like triaging where I
needed to be and what resources needed
to be where,” says Mr. Schuh. “It was
definitely a unique learning experience,
obviously not something you can find in a
classroom.”
Now in his fourth year at the U of C
with a minor in structural engineering,
those lessons will be invaluable as he
advances his career. “I think it’s definitely
something I can draw on and keep in
mind, now that I’ve seen firsthand the
force of nature and just how quickly
things can get out of hand.”

COVER
Across Alberta, municipalities
and expert panels are exploring
flood mitigation solutions to
protect people and property from
the impacts of extreme weather.
APEGA Members are at the
forefront of the discussions and
debate. When the next big flood
hits, will Alberta be ready?
A few days after the flooding began, some
former geoscience students of Dr. Jerry
Osborn, P.Geol., struck up a conversation
on Facebook. It went along the lines of:
“Remember how Dr. Osborn said the big
one is coming and we didn’t believe him?
Remember how we had to do that lab,
predicting the 100-year flood extent, and
it seemed so big we didn’t believe it? We
should have listened.”
Dr. Osborn, P.Geol., a professor in the
Department of Geoscience at the University
of Calgary, certainly wasn’t surprised by the
flood’s magnitude. There have been floods
of similar size in the not-so-distant past,
and he has no doubt they will happen again.
In fact, he says, there’s an increased risk
due to climate change and the potential for
bigger, longer-lasting storms.
“We have a history of big floods on
the Bow River. In the past 130 years, we’ve
had four floods of a similar magnitude, or
bigger, than this last one,” says Dr. Osborn.
“The two biggest floods, in 1879 and 1897,
were only 18 years apart, so there’s no
reason to assume that it’s going to be a long
time until the next one.”
As a Professional Geologist, he’s also
not surprised by the destruction along
Cougar Creek in Canmore, where raging
floodwaters swiftly eroded creek banks
and damaged 120 homes along the creek’s
edge. The reason: the houses were built
on an alluvial fan, a cone-shaped sediment
deposit often found at the mouth of canyons
or gullies. Normally dry, alluvial fans are
Managing
the Risks
characterized by flash flooding from storms
or spring run-off. The fast moving water
has a tendency to sweep back and forth
along the fan, carving new, wider channels
in order to carry large volumes of gravel
and debris being washed down the valley.
“Instead of rising and overtopping its
banks, it just makes new banks. Unlike a

TWISTER
Dean Hagen, with the Calgary Transit Track and Way Department, assesses the
twisted C-Train tracks near the Erlton/Stampede Station. Flooding from the Elbow
River mangled 100-metres of track and caused $8.2 million in damage, disrupting
service into the downtown core.
-photo courtesy City of Calgary
regular river, it just expands its channel,” says Dr. Osborn.
With flood risks now front and centre in the public eye, he’s
hopeful governments will take a more cautious approach when it
comes to development along waterways. In the three months since

COVER
the flood, many flood mitigation improvements have already been
announced and expert panels — which include several APEGA
Members — have been established by municipalities and the provin-
cial government to investigate a plethora of options.
In mid-July, the province announced it will ban new develop-
ment in floodways — the flood hazard area where flows are the
fastest and most destructive. The government has also offered to
buy about 250 southern Alberta homes located in floodways, even
if they weren’t damaged in June.
Homeowners living in the flood fringe — where floodwater
is generally shallower and the flow slower — will be eligible for
disaster recovery funding to help them pay for flood proofing. This
could include berms or raising the house higher off the ground.
Those who don’t install flood proofing won’t be eligible for disaster
relief in any future flood.
The province has also appointed a community advisory panel
that will make recommendations on future flood protection and
prevention solutions. The panel includes Allan Markin, P.Eng.,
whose home in Calgary was badly damaged by flooding. He’s
president of AMP Financial Inc. and past chair of Canadian Natural
Resources Ltd. Also on the panel is Tino DiManno, P.Eng., a senior
vice-president with Stantec Consulting.
Andre Corbould, P.Eng., Chief Assistant Deputy Minister of the
Southern Alberta Flood Recovery Task Force, says many questions
need to be answered.
“Are there lessons learned based on what happened? Are there
ways that we can control the water? Do we need to consider greater
levels of mitigation, whether it be dams or bridges or floodways,
to help prepare for this type of thing?” says Mr. Corbould. “Our job
is to work together with municipalities to figure out what we can
implement immediately, and what may take a little more engineering
or consideration to do in the future.”
Some work has already begun. In High River, for example, the
province has hired a consultant to begin scraping the Highwood
River to increase the river’s flow.
Mr. Corbould says the community advisory panel will take up
where the 2006 Provincial Flood Mitigation Report left off. That
report was written by former Highwood MLA George Groeneveld
after flooding in 2005 killed three people and caused $400 million
in damage. The report made 18 recommendations and called on the
province to spend more than $300 million on flood mitigation in 54
municipalities, including many of those that were flooded in June. It
also called for a ban on development in flood plains.
The province has been criticized for failing to act on the rec-
ommendations, but Mr. Corbould says many of the recommenda-
tions were implemented or were in progress when the flooding hit
in June.
“We’re taking up where that left off, in many ways. But this
year’s event was much bigger than the 2005 floods, so we’re also
looking at it from first principles as well. We’re opening everything
up,” he says.
The province will be working closely with municipalities like
Calgary, High River and Canmore, which have set up their own flood
mitigation panels. In Canmore, the town approved the Mountain
Creek Flood Mitigation Plan, designed to help spread a better under-
standing of how mountain creeks behave, and to identify steps to
reduce further property loss though mitigation projects. High River
is seeking funding from the province for immediate flood mitigation
ALL TOGETHER NOW
Residents pile sand bags along the South Saskatchewan River in Medicine Hat on June
23 to protect infrastructure from rising water. More than 7,000 residents were evacuated
from their homes and initial damage in the community is pegged at $72 million.
-The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

COVER
projects, including berms and dike improve-
ments, and discussions are ongoing for
long-term projects.
In Calgary, a four-member panel of
experts has been struck to help identify
ways to protect people and property from
future flooding. Darrel Danyluk, P.Eng.,
FEC, FCAE, a past APEGA president, was
selected to sit on the committee, along with
Dr. Steve Hrudey, P.Eng., a current APEGA
Councillor.
WHAT ENGINEERS SHOULD DO
Mr. Danyluk says the panel is a positive first
step to finding solutions. But all Profes-
sional Engineers who design infrastructure
projects — including buildings, roads, utili-
ties and storm water systems — have a role
to play in flood mitigation, he says.
From Far and Wide
After the June floods, Professional
Engineers arrived in Alberta from across
the country to provide assistance and
expertise.
Micheka Kostyniuk, P.Eng., was one of
them. A forensic engineer with Caskanette
Udall Consulting Engineers in Kitchener,
Ont., she arrived in High River in early
July and spent two weeks doing struc-
tural inspections on deluged commercial
and condominium properties. Licensed in
Alberta, she was assessing on behalf of
a major insurance company processing
claims in High River.
She’s worked in disaster zones
before — her company was involved in the
Goderich, Ont., tornado in 2011. But this
was the first time she’s seen flood damage
on such a massive scale.
Ms. Kostyniuk examined about 15
buildings during her time in the community.
Most of them held up well, and she found
little in the way of major structural damage.
The floods were a learning experi-
ence. “The most interesting thing to me
was learning how pre-engineered joists
hold up in flood conditions,” she says. “We
had a lot of discussions with manufactur-
ers about how long they can be underwa-
ter. We’ve seen joists that have been wet
and dried out before, but we’ve never seen
the pre-engineered joists that have been
submerged for two or three weeks con-
stantly. There was some damage, but most
of them held up fairly well.”
She credits cleanup crews of vol-
unteers with making her job easier, by
clearing out debris and drywall. “They got
everything torn out and I was able to get in
quickly,” says Ms. Kostyniuk.
Void mapping was also required on
one of the properties she examined, where
there were concerns of an underground
sinkhole beneath the building. Ground
penetrating radar determined everything
was OK.
She’s hopeful the business owners
are able to reopen soon. “We’ve seen God-
erich rebuild and they’re doing fabulous.
They rebuilt quicker than we anticipated,
so hopefully southern Alberta can, too.”CONTINUE ON PAGE 87 ››

What the
Bedrock Says
University of Calgary geophysics
students look to Bow River riverbanks
to learn more about flooding
What can the bedrock along the Bow
River teach society about past — and
future — floods? A group of geophysics
students from the University of
Calgary’s Department of Geoscience
hopes to find out.
In August, 50 students took part in
a unique, two-week urban field school
to examine the geologic record of riv-
erbanks around the city’s Inglewood
Wildlands Park and Shouldice Park, two
areas flooded in June.
In a story on the U of C website,
Don Lawton, P.Geoph., a professor at the
university, says the June flooding was
a tremendous learning opportunity for
students. By figuring out what happened
in past floods, the students may be able
to predict the effects of future floods.
“This has given our students a once-
in-a-lifetime chance to participate in an
important research and training program
fueled by a tangible objective to better
understand the history of floods in the
Bow River, while also contributing to the
knowledge about the city’s river system,”
Dr. Lawton says.
Students conducted geophysical
surveys, including electric resistivity
imaging and seismic refraction surveys,
to create images of the subsurface
beneath the floodplains. Now that
they’re back in class, they’ll interpret
the field data and write a report on their
findings.
Field schools are a course require-
ment for geophysics students. They give
students a chance to use sophisticated
technology and put into practice the tech-
niques that they’ll use once they graduate
and get jobs in industry.
This was the department’s first
urban field school. Typically, the field
schools are held in the Rocky Mountains,
the Canadian Shield or the Prairies. The
City of Calgary granted the university
access to the parks for the research.
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COVER
“As engineers, what
can we do? We define
what the problem is, define
what level of protection to
mitigate against, and then
engineer solutions to do
that. Recognizing that there
is a problem is the obvious
first step,” he says.
Mr. Danyluk, a civil
engineer, is vice-president
of the World Federation of
Engineering Organizations
and chairs its engineering
and environment com-
mittee, which provides
recommendations on the
adaptation of civil infra-
structure to climate change
impacts and risks. He’s also
chair of the national Public
Infrastructure Engineering
Vulnerability Committee, a
project funded by Engineers
Canada and Natural Resources Canada.
Known as PIEVC, the committee has developed an assessment
tool to help experts — in particular Professional Engineers — evalu-
ate the vulnerability of infrastructure to extreme weather events. To
date, there have been more than 30 PIEVC assessments conducted
by municipalities across Canada, including Calgary and Edmonton.
“The reality is that the climate is changing,” he says. “We’re
seeing more extreme weather. We’re seeing bigger events, com-
bined events, which are causing our infrastructure to be vulnerable
to failure. We can’t say there’s a standard pattern now.”
Currently, infrastructure is designed to codes and standards
based on historic weather data that has been fairly benign, says Mr.
Danyluk. But the changing climate is exposing Canada’s infrastruc-
ture to impacts it wasn’t originally designed for, he says. Moving
forward, professionals need to consider new design and operational
practices to withstand these new weather conditions.
“We can’t wait for the standard to change. We must consider
whether or not there are climatic events that should be taken into
account today. If you’re building a new facility or you’re rehabilitat-
ing existing infrastructure, it’s best to ask the question: Are there
climatic criteria here that we should consider in our new design or
in our upgrade? It’s no-regrets action,” says Mr. Danyluk. “Engi-
neers need to take leadership on this and can do so by doing climate
risk assessments in their work.”
DOZENS OF EXPERTS,
DOZENS OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Both Mr. Danyluk and Dr. Hrudey also participated in the
development of a white paper called The 2013 Great Alberta Flood:
Actions to Mitigate, Manage and Control Future Floods. Released
Aug. 2 by Alberta
WaterSMART, it gathered
the contributions of dozens
of experts — Professionals
in Engineering and
Geoscience, ecologists,
business leaders,
researchers, policy
analysts and others —
and it contains dozens of
recommendations on how
to manage, mitigate and
control future floods and
severe droughts.
“The purpose of our
work is to provide a road
map looking forward, to
inform the discussions
underway in committee
rooms across the province,”
says Kim Sturgess, P.Eng.,
founder and CEO of
WaterSMART, which has
spent the past eight years
working on water management in the Bow and South Saskatchewan
river basins. “Where do we go from here to make sure we don’t run
into this problem again? What actions need to be taken to mitigate
this the next time around?”
Many of the contributing experts were on hand at the Cana-
dian Water Summit in Calgary on June 27. At the time, the city was
still mopping up from the flood waters. Summit organizers quickly
changed the day’s program to focus on flood solutions. The ideas
that emerged were the beginning of the white paper, which contin-
ued to evolve over the next four weeks.
Ms. Sturgess says the final recommendations are logical,
science-based actions that can be taken to strengthen the
province’s capacity to respond to natural disasters. They can be
summarized in six general tasks, which are that society should
• anticipate and plan for more extreme weather events, including
flood and drought
• improve the province’s operational capacity to deal with
potential extreme weather scenarios through better modeling
and data management
• investigate the cost/benefit balance of investing in physical
infrastructure
• consider flood risks in municipal planning and strengthen
building codes for new flood plain development
• evaluate options for overland flood insurance
• manage water resources collaboratively.
ACTING WITH THE WHOLE IN MIND
Ms. Sturgess says it’s important that any flood mitigation work
takes into account the river system as a whole. “A berm placed
BRIGHT LIGHTS
Volunteers and family clean out Linda Clarke’s flooded basement in Sunrise, the second commu-
nity to be drained after flooding in High River. Crews were allowed into the home on July 16.
-photo courtesy David Richeson

COVER
Wood Buffalo Cleanup Continues
Wood Buffalo was just starting to recover
from its worst flooding in decades when
the media spotlight shifted south to what’s
being dubbed the Great Alberta Flood. But
just like southern Alberta, the northern
municipality is still putting itself back
together, months later.
Flooding began June 10 in the Anzac
area, after the region was drenched with up
to 180 millimetres of rain over four days.
High, fast-flowing waters began to ravage
Fort McMurray a day later, resulting in a
week-long, local state of emergency.
Damaged public infrastructure includes
roads, bridges and trails, as well as water,
sanitary and storm systems. The initial
estimate of the cost of the damage, for public
infrastructure only, is around $35 million,
says Joseph Zachariah, the municipality’s
flood recovery project manager.
The municipality is hiring engineering
consultants to determine the best strat-
egy for repairs. “We are trying our best to
recover everything back to pre-flood condi-
tions. There are no safety concerns now
but there is some inconvenience,” he says.
Back in June, 400 to 500 people
were placed under mandatory evacuation
in the Grayling Terrace, Draper Road and
Waterways residential areas, after rapidly
rising water on the Hangingstone River
eroded slopes and shorelines. Waterways
and Draper residents were also faced
with a boil water order after waterworks
infrastructure was damaged.
Flooding in the Anzac area forced the
closure of Highway 881, and a section of
Highway 63, about 30 kilometres south
of Fort McMurray, was impassable for
a short time. Two major parks were
flooded and remained closed when The
PEG went to press. Representatives of the
Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre said
six centimetres of water made it onto the
main floor. About 100 kilometres north of
Fort McMurray, north and south approaches
to the Firebag Bridge were washed out,
stranding 60 backcountry campers until
crews could stage a rescue.
In early July, the provincial govern-
ment announced the Wood Buffalo Disaster
Recovery Program, part of the $1 billion in
flood recovery funding promised after the
destruction in southern Alberta. Home-
owners and businesses with uninsurable
damage can apply to the program for relief.
As the recovery and rebuilding
continues, the municipality is undertaking
studies to determine long-term repairs
and flood protection measures for the
future, said Mr. Zachariah. The studies will
complement flood protection strategies
already included in Fort McMurray’s City
Centre Area Redevelopment Plan. Some
strategies have already been incorporated,
such as an elevated roadway along the
shoreline of the Clearwater River.
on a river may save one property but cause significant issues for
another property. You have to understand what those impacts are.
Things that are done in the City of Calgary have a huge impact
downstream. It’s one river system, one watershed, and you need to
look at your actions within a watershed,” she says.
It will also be important to analyze the cost of hard engineering
— dams, canals, diversions and the like — against benefits and risks.
“One of our recommendations is to use modeling to assess
the various investments in infrastructure and what their impacts
will be,” says Ms. Sturgess. “We want to make sure that the
money is spent in the best way possible. And we want to try and
avoid having an impact on the natural infrastructure. Any time
you start interfering with the natural flow of the river, you start
having unintended consequences. Having a look at low-impact
developments would be extremely helpful, rather than immediately
diving into the big, hard solutions.”
Low-impact solutions could include improvements to wetlands
and riparian areas, which could be used as natural water storage
areas. “The point is to use as much of the natural infrastructure as
you can,” she says.
APEGA has also been involved in the flood mitigation
conversation. CEO Mark Flint, P.Eng., was part of the Engineering
Working Group which provided input for the WaterSMART white
paper. “As a professional association, we have a responsibility to
lead,” says Mr. Flint.
The association’s Practice Standards Committee is also
looking at producing practice standard guidelines for flood
mitigation to support members in their professional practice.
“We are looking at our practice standard guidelines to see if
there are recommendations we can put together to provide some
guidance to our professions,” Mr. Flint says. “What should we be
thinking about and looking at, as professionals, when creating
flood mitigation designs? Guidelines can help us shape the way we
approach the design process.”
SIDEBAR
WEATHER AHEAD
By 2050, Alberta will see a 10 to 15 per cent increase in
extreme rainfall events as average annual temperatures in
the province rise by 2 to 4 C. So predicts a June 2012 study
prepared by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction for
the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
The bureau notes that over the past four years, severe
storms, fires and flooding in Alberta caused an average of $670
million in damage. That compares to an average of $100 million
annually over the past 15 years.

APEGA Flood Report

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