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Fort McMurray’s newly built flood mitigation system stopped parts of the community from flooding this year, says regional fire Chief Jody Butz.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) announced Thursday morning that river levels had stabilized and evacuation warnings south of Fort McMurray were over.
“Definitely the mitigation worked. That has been put in place, prevented loss in the community and flooding,” Butz told CBC News. “We would be flooding. This type of water volume this year would have impacted our community once again.”
While some parks and rural roads south of Fort McMurray and along the Clearwater River flooded on April 28, Butz says homes were protected.
Fort McMurray has spent more than $240 million on building a network of berms and barriers to protect low-lying areas from flooding. Most of the work is complete and gaps are being filled with temporary inflatable flood berms. Construction is expected to be finished by 2028, with a total price tag of $270 million.
Draper, a community south of Fort McMurray that was on evacuation notice, is not protected by berms. Instead, the municipality offered residents in low-lying areas buyouts or grants to raise their homes above the flood line.
A flooded boat launch near downtown Fort McMurray on April 28. (Jamie Malbeuf/CBC)
The flood mitigation work was ramped up after the community about 430 kilometres north of Edmonton suffered devastating flooding in April 2020. The flood triggered an evacuation of more than 15,000 people, with more than $520 million in insured damages were reported to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
This year, water levels on the Clearwater River rose by more than five metres at the peak, compared to roughly eight metres during the 2020 flood.
A municipal spokesperson says the river this year reached parts of the flood mitigation system but never broke through.
Butz says flaws in the municipality’s sewage system that allowed flood waters to reach basements and underground parking sites in 2020 have been repaired.
Mayor hopes barriers restore confidence in downtown
Mayor Sandy Bowman said he hopes this year’s spring melt shows residents and businesses that they can count on the RMWB’s flood protection system.
“We’ve had investment come here, but I think this will show they’re not in a flood zone. Basically, that the protection is there,” said Bowman. “When permanent flood mitigation is finished, I think that will show the downtown is protected. It may actually increase investment in downtown.”
Residents and businesses in flood zones expressed relief that the berms held. But there was also some nervousness as this was the first test of the new berms along the Clearwater River.
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“I don’t see water coming down and whatever they’re doing is working. It’s so hard to tell and until things happen and it rises again, we’ll see,” said Geri Hardisty in an interview last week.
Hardisty saw most of her neighbours in the community of Waterways leave after the 2016 Horse River wildfire and the 2020 flood.
“It makes a big difference. As much as we all looked at it and said ‘no, I don’t think that’s gonna work,’ I don’t know. I really don’t know,” she said.
Steven Crowe, another Waterways resident, said the potential for flooding makes spring a nervous time for many of his neighbours. He said he hopes the berms will withstand any future flooding.
“Talking to the neighbours around here, most of them are kind of just desensitized or not really interested in any of it,” he said. “You can only do it so many times.”