New flood protection along the Bow and Elbow Rivers will protect Calgary and upstream communities from the type of severe flooding that occurred in June 2013, the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history.
“ Building Alberta’s flood defenses will help protect families and businesses from a repeat of the devastation experienced in 2013, when more than $6 billion in damage was inflicted on our infrastructure and economy ,” said Shannon Phillips, Minister of Environment and Parks.
A provincial funding commitment of $297 million will ensure communities along the Elbow River are protected from a 2013-level flood.
The Alberta government is also providing dedicated funding of $150 million over 10 years to the City of Calgary for local projects through the Alberta Community Resilience Program.
The flood mitigation projects were selected based on the advice of independent experts in flood protection.
As part of the overall strategy for managing flood risk in Alberta, five new multi-year river hazard studies are now underway.
The five new studies will identify river hazards and produce new flood inundation and flood hazard maps for the Bow, Elbow, Sheep, Highwood, and Peace Rivers. In total, approximately 525 kilometers of river will be studied and mapped.
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