The city of Calgary is no longer under a local state of emergency, city officials announced Friday, adding that another storm that was causing concern is no longer an issue.
Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, along with Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Sue Henry and Francois Bouchart, Director of Water Resources, made the announcement during an evening news conference.
“We have, at this time, terminated the local state of emergency,” Gondek said. “The weather system we were concerned about is expected to remain well to the south of us.”
Bouchart said the city will still experience some rain from this system, but it won’t be at the volume they were anxious for.
“You can anticipate that we’re going to get some rain, some rain in the next few days, including Monday and Tuesday,” he said. “The models we have show that the rainfall is such that it will not result in a significantly high flow response.”
Gondek added that the temporary berm that was built along Memorial Drive to protect some low-lying communities from flooding will be removed sometime in a day or two.
“The operation to dismantle the berm will take place over the next several days and we anticipate a return to normal traffic patterns by Monday morning at the latest.”
Henry said Calgarians will need to stay away from the area while the berm is removed.
“It will be an active construction site and we are asking Calgarians to stay away from the area.”
The weather event, which began Monday, raised a lot of concern among Calgary residents who lived in the city during the devastating 2013 flood.
This time, flood mitigation efforts helped protect communities, but officials say conditions just weren’t the same as they were back then.
However, Henry added that they have received a lot of praise from residents for their quick actions regarding the risk of flooding.
“Rapid prevention efforts, with some traffic hiccups, were far preferable to subsequent uncertainty with our options.”
She says the city of Calgary learned a lot from the 2013 flood and this situation was “an amazing example” of that knowledge.
“The number of emergency members in the room that took the lessons from 2013, integrated them into their emergency response plan, all of the mitigation efforts that we’ve taken since then really came together. This is something that Calgary really cares about.” proud. of.”
NAVIGATION NOTICE CONTINUED
While the local state of emergency is no longer in effect, Gondek said it’s still considered “flood season” in the city and Calgarians should not venture into the Bow or Elbow rivers until further notice.
“For homes that are in flood-prone areas, move anything that’s in the basement if you haven’t already, we’re still anticipating that rain.”
Gondek also thanked all the Calgarians who helped out and hopes residents feel confident in the days ahead.
“You are in good hands with experts who have been tracking things for us.”
Reference-calgary.ctvnews.ca