Representatives from the provincial government and Rocky View County toured the White Avenue flood erosion control project in Bragg Creek on Nov. 15 to assess the work being done to address future flooding.
Kyle Fawcett, Associate Minister for Recovery and Reconstruction of Southern Alberta, Rocky View County staff, and Division 1 Coun. Liz Breakey toured the site last week.
According to Rocky View County Capital Projects Team Lead Jorie McKenzie, when the Elbow River, which runs through Bragg Creek, overflowed its banks on June 20, it wiped out part of Highway 758 and flooded properties in the hamlet causing significant land erosion.
On Nov. 8, the Province committed $1.135 million to Rocky View County through the Flood Recovery Erosion Control Program (FRECP).
“The funding will be used to armour the banks along the Elbow River in Bragg Creek,” said McKenzie. “The south side of the hamlet at the Elbow River was largely where the hamlet was flooded from.”
McKenzie said the County is re-enforcing the existing bank to stop the river from taking more land next spring with the spring thaw.
“We’re putting the bank armouring and reconstruction in place to provide erosion protection to properties and infrastructure in the hamlet,” he said.
The White Avenue project is urgent and the County is proceeding almost immediately said McKenzie adding it will be done in the next month.
McKenzie said the County hired a third party engineering consulting firm after the June flooding.
“We hired qualified river engineers right after the flood,” said McKenzie. “I walked the entire river with the engineers, and we developed the four projects that we are advancing at this stage.”
McKenzie said after the County became aware of the FRECP grant opportunity to build public and private infrastructure they applied for and received pre-approval for four project locations in Bragg Creek under the initial grant submission.
The second project is along River Drive South where large sections of properties were significantly damaged.
The third armouring bank project is along Bracken Road.
“The County built a constructed flood dyke in 2009 and sections of the dyke itself were impacted by the flood,” said McKenzie. “We requested the funding to armour sections of the existing dyke and that work will proceed as soon as possible.”
The fourth project is to armour 10 extra meters of bank at the County water treatment plant intake site where armour was impacted by the flood said McKenzie.
“Our river engineers made a recommendation to extend it, and the Province’s Disaster Recovery Program only covers rebuilding to pre-existing condition,” said McKenzie. “The FRECP covers the difference for the extension.”
McKenzie said that project will be completed over the next six months.
The Country will continue to evaluate additional locations in Rocky View County where erosion may be an issue as well.
Fawcett said the Province approved the FRECP funding to rebuild banks and put the infrastructure in place to protect properties from future floods.
“We are getting approval for funding and streamlining the process including supporting the water project,” said Fawcett. “We’re making significant progress and are focused on our priorities.”
In September, the Province committed $9.8 million to Rocky View County for water and wastewater servicing.
Breakey said she is thrilled with the Province’s FRECP funding.
“It will leave people with a measure of confidence and protects the community from another spring freshet,” she said. “I’ve seen a gigantic impetus (from the Province) to move forward. They rebuilt the highway and their funding of water and wastewater was a gift from the gods.”
McKenzie said the FRECP provides opportunity for additional funding and the County intends to make a second submission before the Jan. 30 deadline.
While some projects are just getting underway, some have been completed including reconstruction of the flood damaged section of Highway 758. Alberta Transportation officially reopened the highway in September.
“Our first priority was to get the highway rebuilt,” said Fawcett.
Alberta Transportation also diverted the Elbow River back to its proper alignment, according to Byron Reimann, Rocky View County General Manager of Operations.
Rocky View County residents who have questions about the status of County projects can call 403-230-1401 or email [email protected].
