Emergency flood planning in Sundre has shifted in focus to a react-and-respond approach away from attempts to control the river, town officials recently heard.
Looking back at previous floods, what has really affected the town is not overland flooding from breaches of the Red Deer River's banks but rather surges caused by rising groundwater, said Kevin Heerema, community peace officer and director of emergency management.
"The river gets wider and heavier, and what that does is pushes down the weight and that brings groundwater up," he told council during its Jan. 9 workshop.
"The river's going to do what the river's going to do. We could put all kinds of mitigation in place. But Mother Nature's going to have her way with us."
That means until a demonstrably proven flood mitigation strategy is presented, the best options left available to the municipality are "to increase communication, increase preparedness, and increase our resiliency to bounce back from an event," he said.
The director of emergency management also outlined some developments with Sundre's Emergency Management Committee since it was formed last March. The committee reviewed the municipality's existing emergency response plan and determined that while it does address various areas of dealing with a disaster, the time had come to update and improve the document, he said.
The committee also suggested there is no interest for Sundre to further pursue participating in talks with Mountain View County in regards to the Flood Recovery Erosion Control Program (FREC) grant as none of the proposed projects would benefit the municipality. Additionally, the committee recommended that should county officials approve either of the proposed flood mitigation projects that Sundre's council request confirmation from the county that any action taken will not have a negative impact on the town, he said.
Heerema said he's also been working to complete a new risk and hazard assessment. The Community Emergency Management Program is almost finished and will help to ensure that risks associated with the municipality are outlined to assist in future planning.
"It is a pretty lengthy and detailed document ó I hope to have it done soon."
Meanwhile, work is still required to adequately prepare an emergency operations centre (EOC), and Heerema said the Sundre Golf Course has agreed to remain as the second, or backup, EOC location in case the main location at the town's office is compromised in the event of a natural disaster.
Also, the devastating wildfires that swept through northern Alberta last year causing significant damage to Fort McMurray reaffirmed concerns of the potential for Sundre to experience a similar catastrophe. On top of the lessons learned from the 2011 Slave Lake fire, it's clear Sundre and the surrounding area must remain vigilant in preparedness as well as ability to respond, he said.
"FireSmart will be a major tool for the town in this preparation and mitigation for the future."
Over the course of the following year, the committee will further discuss and examine evacuation routes for potential disasters based on the municipality's assessment. Those conversations will have to consider how to handle visitors and recreational users in the West Country as well as how to manage traffic to as much as possible prevent bottlenecking in town, he said.
