Fort McMurray looking to revamp flood mitigation plans

Less than two months after a massive flood damaged hundreds of buildings in Fort McMurray, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalois re-examining its current flood mitigation planand introducing a host of possible options to prepare the community for future floods.

At a council meeting on Tuesday night, Wood Buffalo deputy CAO Matthew Houghintroduced several possible new measures including full or partial land buyouts, controlling or limiting development in the flood plain, continuing with current efforts or land swaps with the municipality.

Hough said the new flood mitigation plan could be any combination of these options.

"As our flood mitigation plan is currently designed, we cannot guarantee safety," said Hough.

"The reality is, unless we remove development entirely, there will always be risk."

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The aim of the new plan is to protect theTaiga Nova Industrial Park, lthe lower townsite area, Waterways, Draper and Ptarmigan Trailer Park.

But Hough emphasized that he is not looking to implement a single solution for all of the neighbourhoods. Rather, each area will be looked at separately to see what works best for each individually.

"We recognize every community is different. We're analyzing each individually taking cost, risk and community support into consideration."

Hough is asking residents to fill out a survey on the municipality's website tofind out what level of risk residents are comfortable with.

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But he doesn't just want to hear from residents in the affected neighbourhoodsHough said this is an issue for the entire community and all Fort McMurray residents are encouraged to fill out the survey.

"The 2020 flood is a catalyst for us to revisit how we enhance our community resilience by reducing our vulnerability to flooding," said Hough.

He said it's important to take steps to mitigate the risk, because althoughthe provincial and federal governments have assisted with disaster recovery thus far, that could change.

"As the cost associated with recovery continues to increase, as more natural disasters occur, the appetite from senior levels of government may diminish, and the burden will fall onto local governments and taxpayers in the region," said Hough.

Hough said the current berm system is scheduled to be completely finished in 2022and the construction plans will remain the same.

Some residents in Waterways were looking to the municipality for a buyout after the recent flooding. Residents have said the flood plain has made their property value plummet and they don't feel the infrastructure is in place to keep them safe.

'We will flood again'

At Tuesday's meeting Coun. Jeff Peddle stressed the importance of finding solutions quickly.

"My biggest concern is making sure we are ready again, because we will flood again 100 per cent."

Peddle said he wants to ensure "at the municipal level we're doing everything we can to protect the residents and businesses."

Coun. Phil Meagher said he wants to see photo and video reminders of the flood every year so it isn't forgotten.

"We constantly need to be reminded, because the further we get from this flood we'll forget about it and there'll be shortcuts taken to the mitigation plan," said Meagher. "It's [flooding] always going to be part of Fort McMurray."

He said he'd also like to study options for breaking up the ice in case there is another jam.

Hough will be presenting different options and survey results to council on July 14.