Rebuilding in
flood hazard areas
Impact of flood
• Area directly impacted spans 55,000 square
kilometres
• Evacuations of almost 100,000 people
• 10,000 homes evacuated
• Impacts to substantial amount of infrastructure
including water treatment facilities, hospitals,
schools, bridges, roads, businesses, and
recreation sites
• Scope, scale and speed resulted in the first-ever
State of Provincial Emergency in Alberta
2
Helping Albertans
• Approved $1 billion as part of the first phase of
emergency recovery and reconstruction funding
• Committed $50 million to High River to keep essential
services going
• Opened disaster recovery centres in communities
across southern Alberta at pace unprecedented in
Canada, to begin providing funds — up to $10,000 —
to help Albertans rebuild their homes and their lives
• Issued nearly 36,000 debit cards ($62 million)
• Appointed three associate ministers to lead recovery
• Put in place a government task force to lead a crossgovernment approach to rebuilding affected
communities
3
Government goals
• Move as quickly as possible to make decisions and
get resources in place to help Albertans
• Provide Albertans with the information they need to
make informed decisions
• Respect personal choices while providing clear
information about future risks
• Enable, empower, and coordinate with municipalities.
They lead in their recovery with support from the
Alberta government
• Want to reduce the impact of future floods, keep
people safe and use tax dollars responsibly
4
Design Flood - A flood that has a 1% chance of occurring each
year. The 1% flood is also sometimes referred to as the 100-year
flood. The1-in-100 year standard is the provincial standard moving
forward.
Flood Hazard Area - The total area flooded by the design flood and
is usually divided into Floodway and Flood Fringe zones.
Floodway Zone - The portion of the flood hazard area where flows
are deepest, fastest and most destructive. Currently, new
development is discouraged in the Floodway zone.
Flood Fringe Zone - Floodwater in the flood fringe is generally
shallower and flows more slowly than in the floodway.
Flood-proofed structure - A structure designed or modified so that
it suffers no claimable damages during a flood that is less than or
equal to the Design Flood.
5
What is a flood hazard area?
6
What is a flood hazard area?
FLO O D H AZARD AREA
7
Where are the flood hazard areas?
• 70% of populated areas in Alberta have been
flood mapped including all major flood risk areas
• Flood hazard mapping identifies areas at risk
caused by excessive overbank river flow, and
does not consider:
• groundwater problems
• storm water drainage issues
• dam or levee failures
• debris jams at bridges
8
The choice for people with
uninhabitable homes in a floodway
• If an individual lives in a floodway and they choose to use
their DRP funding to rebuild a destroyed home on their
existing land, the Government respects that choice.
• Will be important choices for many homeowners in the near
future if they choose to rebuild in a floodway; there are
factors to understand and accept.
• Flood way development presents the highest ongoing risk of
a future occurrence.
• Homeowners can choose to use Disaster Recovery funds to
rebuild in an existing floodway.
• By accepting Disaster Recovery funds, a rebuilt home in a
floodway will not qualify for disaster assistance in future.
• If the choice is to relocate, the Government will help
facilitate that choice.
9
The choice for people with
repairable homes in a floodway
• If an individual lives in a floodway and they choose to use
their DRP funding to repair a home on their existing land,
the Government respects that choice.
• Will be important choices for many homeowners in the near
future if they choose to repair in a floodway; there are
factors to understand and accept.
• Flood way development presents the highest ongoing risk of
a future occurrence.
• Homeowners can choose to use Disaster Recovery funds to
repair their homes in an existing floodway.
• By accepting Disaster Recovery funds, a repaired home in a
floodway will not qualify for disaster assistance in future.
• If the choice is to relocate, the Government will help
facilitate that choice.
10
The choice for people with homes in
a flood fringe
• Will provide up to an additional 15% above eligible
DRP funds for flood proofing measures
• Homeowners who do their own approved flood
proofing, or are protected by collective flood proof
measures, will remain eligible for assistance for any
future flooding which meets or exceeds the 1-in-100
flood benchmark
• Those who choose to remain within a flood fringe
area without implementing approved flood proofing
will not be eligible for further disaster recovery
assistance for future flooding
11
Examples of flood proofing
•
•
•
•
Building on fill (raising the structure above the
design structure)
Building on piers, piles, columns (building raised
above the ground)
Sealing a house to be water-tight
Installing flood proof walls or berms around a
house
12
Preventing future flood damage
• Going forward, will require municipalities not approve
future development in floodways
• Will involve legislative changes that will be made in
the fall.
• Current legislation says municipalities “should not”
approve future developments.
• Changes will include “must not” approve future
developments.
• Many municipalities already have requirements in
place for this
• Work supported by flood hazard mapping by the
provincial government
13
Municipal planning
• Will require municipalities not approve future
development in floodways
• Work with municipalities to build community flood
proofing infrastructure and implement standards
to better protect communities and homeowners
• Each flood-affected municipality will be required
to prepare specific recovery plans that include
opportunities to create additional flood protection
measures
14
Next steps
• Help protect Albertans by empowering them to
make informed decisions
• Maintain the integrity of the floodway by removing
developments and homes out of the floodway
and preventing any future development in the
floodway
• Increase resilience in the flood fringe
• Align regulatory policies and legislation to desired
intent
• Limit future taxpayer liability
15
Unique circumstances
• Will deal with unique circumstances and
questions as we move forward
• Families need to work with DRP contact to
figure out how new policies apply to them
• Albertans looking for more information:
• 310-4455
• Alberta.ca
16
How does this policy support
government’s goals?
• Changed DRP so people have access to funds
more quickly
• Emergency payments were available quickly to
help Albertans deal with out of pocket within days
of flood
• Information packages were provided to displaced
residents
• Albertans received current information via
alberta.ca and 310-4455
• Respect personal choices while providing info
about future risk
• Enable, empower, and coordinate with
municipalities
17
Questions?
18