100 days since historic flood in southern Alberta
Posted Sep 27, 2013 7:49 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Just over three months ago, rivers and streams were spilling their banks, following a record rainfall which combined with the annual spring runoff in the mountains.
In a matter of days, 100,000 people living in 30 communities were displaced by the high water, which damaged 14,500 homes.
Some 2700 families remain out of their homes; most are now living in mobile home communities which have been resurrected in High River, Siksika and next month in southeast Calgary.
A spokesperson with the Municipal Affairs department tells 660News, people remain the government’s number one priority in terms of providing shelter and financial compensation for their losses.
Cam Traynor says they are trying to process flood claims as quickly as possible, to date about 25 per cent of the some 8500 claims have been approved, totaling just under $11.3-million.
Traynor says even though winter is fast approaching ,work to prevent future flooding will ramp up, especially in terms of policy and regulations.
He suggests we all need to prepare for more flooding in the future and that’s why more work needs to be done on the flood mitigation work.
Alberta’s Premier Alison Redford has issued a statement, which acknowledges the devastation while renewing her government’s commitment to help flood victims and ramp up flood mitigation efforts to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
Four people lost their lives during the flood of 2013, which the Insurance Bureau of Canada has dubbed the costliest disaster in Canadian history.
The latest damage estimate from the Alberta government pegs losses at $6-billion.
