#projectcanada cities

those in my circles will tell you i have become weirdly obsessed with mayor farkas and how he said 'bullshit' four times in one reel without fear of the algorithm and then later clarified "no BS, just CS." I may be suspicious of his voting record (and his continued need to throw Edmonton property taxes around like some evil plot) but the enemy of my enemy and all that... anyway he won this one.

On a more serious note, the province has decided to go to war with disabled Albertans. Please read Cam Tait's column on how Smith is not just minimizing but straight up ignoring the very real threats to people's lives her government is making by stealing from those who are struggling the most and giving it to whoever has the patience to figure out the government's bullshit application for a pitiful rebate.

RED: So, ten years on from one of the worst floods in Southern Alberta's history... How do you remember it starting? CAL: It's still unbelievable. I was just walking around downtown and the water was almost up to my ankles by the time I realized what was happening. CARO: The police showed up at my door to make sure I was ready to evacuate that night.

RED: How did it get so bad so fast? CAL: Even though it was a clear day here, the rain on the melting snow in the mountains upstream was so heavy that everything came down fast. People genuinely thought the measurement instruments were broken. CARO: It was the first time the city ever had to use the Municipal Emergency Plan. We did what we could to build temporary barriers and get people out, but you couldn't get downtown for days afterwards.

CAL: Luckily, we were able to meet up and visit some of the rec centres people were evacuated to. You hear stories about disasters hitting and violence erupting and people fending for themselves, but it wasn't like that at all. CARO: People were coming by and dropping off so much food that it was difficult to figure out where to send it all! CAL: Eventually we just started telling people "Come back tomorrow!" It wasn't a problem I'd have ever complained about.

CARO: We weren't always in a place that had power, so it took us a while before we saw the footage of the flooding in places like Bragg Creek and other parts of southern Alberta. CAL: We lowered the water in the Glenmore Reservoir to try to keep up with the flood and keep a supply of safe drinking water for us and our neighbours, but the water was still flowing out of the dam about seven times faster than normal. Watching it spill over like that was awful... CARO: Luckily the water quality was nowhere near as bad as it got during the 2005 flood, but I definitely saw a few people splashing and swimming around in it. You have no idea how much sewage was just floating around the streets, guys! Eugh!

CARO: It was lucky that we have such great neighbours looking after us! RED: Aww, I'm gonna blush! It was the least I could do, luckily we did enough preparation after 2005 to avoid the worst of that flood.

ED: Jeez, "most expensive disaster in Canadian history,"* really? CAL: You know me... always going all out... CARO: Thanks for breakfast, it was nice to sleep on something other than a gym mat too! RED: You betcha! We're nearly done loading the truck, so you guys can rest up.

[ *Until the Fort McMurray Fire in 2016 ]

---

CAL: Coming back, downtown was... different after that.

CARO: The clean up was not exactly fun, but you'd have to beat Calgarians looking for a way to help off with a stick. CAL: [laughing] The police were annoyed that people kept getting in the way at the time, but I think just giving people something to do helped make things a lot better in the end. CARO: We like to brag about our can-do attitude and volunteer spirit in good times, but it really makes you cry to see people help each other when we're all hurting like that. CAL: That and it's way easier to deal with a carpet of mould with friends!

RED: So the flood happened, you clean up, sort through the insurance... then what? CAL: I ended up moving into my current apartment after that. I couldn't stand the thought of not being able to see what was happening. CARO: No thanks, I smelled downtown after the power went out and everyone's food rotted. You couldn't pay me to live in one of those high rises!

-- RED: And only two weeks to go before the greatest outdoor show on earth! Did you think of cancelling? CARO: No way - we hadn't cancelled Stampede since the First World War! We were still selling tickets while the grounds were still wet!

CAL: I'm not entirely sure how we did it, although we did have a lot of help from some American friends - and Calgarians, of course! There were some cancellations and it was a little quieter, but opening Stampede meant the world to us.

CARO: We've done a lot to make things safer since the flood. CAL: There's new steel gates on the dam that doubled the water capacity, which helps a lot. CARO: Although we sometimes forget that when we are under water restrictions... shortages are still a big problem.

RED: I saw the barrier along Heritage Drive you told me to look out for earlier. CARO: We hope that one will help keep the roads clear for emergency vehicles if another flood happens. CAL: If you give me a lift downtown, I'll show you a couple of different things we've installed in Eau Clare... CARO: I'll meet you there! CAL: ...I hope you're taking the C-Train because otherwise something is deeply wrong with you. CARO: Enjoy sitting in traffic!

CAL: Can you spot the flood barriers? RED: Those tiered rocks? CAL: That's one of them, but there's another part of Eau Clare Plaza ahead that's a little harder to spot. RED: It looks pretty normal to me...

CAL: These benches are actually fitted over concrete barriers! We have a steel gate we can install between them before a flood hits. RED: Whoa! Subtle, yet effective! RED: Your place in Bowness was hit pretty badly too, wasn't it? Do you have anything like this, Caroline?

CARO: Ah, well, we definitely did some studies but... a lot of the areas affected involve cooperating with private property owners. They want to see how the province manages with building a new reservoir upstream before they commit to anything yet. Stuff like this is pretty pricey - it's already cost well over a billion dollars total to make some of these changes. CAL: It's alright, we're still much more prepared even though we haven't built every project. We know what to pack for an evac, we both have water level alerts set up on our phones... and we've reduced the flood risk of the whole city by about 70% too. RED: That's really impressive!

RED: You hadn't seen a flood like this since the 1890s. Are you worried about another "once in a century" flood any time soon? CARO: The Bow and the Elbow have flooded for our entire lives, and it's not likely to stop anytime soon. CAL: There's still a lot we have to do to improve our relationship with the river, but I think we've come a long way. RED: Let's hope for the best, then! CAL: We can do more than just hope! I'm thinking of building a rain garden... CARO: ...you live almost 30 storeys in the air. CAL: I didn't say its going to be for me! CARO: You are not digging in my yard until you fix my pipes...

Bonus drapeau