Residents of Bragg Creek began the long road to recovery June 22 as the water levels receded and the mandatory evacuation was lifted to allow people to return home and inspect the flood damage to their once-picturesque community.
“It makes me cry. The whole thing does, I feel gut-punched. Everybody does,” said local Councillor Liz Breakey, who added with a note of optimism that members of the community and “hundreds” of volunteers had come together to begin cleaning up. She said the damage was “incalculable” but could “easily be estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“Bragg Creekers are resilient. People have been totally wiped out have come in and said ‘well this isn’t so bad, I can fix this.’ Nobody is giving up,” she said, in between coordinating clean-up efforts at the rescue centre, which is set up at the Bragg Creek Community Centre. In addition to providing their time and labour, many local businesses and individuals donated food, water and supplies to the flood recovery.
Due to unprecedented amounts of rain, the Elbow River breached its banks towards the south end of Bragg Creek, June 20, and ran down Whyte Avenue into downtown Bragg Creek.
General Manager of Infrastructure and Operations Byron Riemann said by 5 p.m. June 20, before meters topped out, readings at the Bragg Creek monitoring station showed the Elbow River had risen 3.5 metres higher than normal operating levels and flow rates were 25 times higher. Final readings have not yet been calculated.
“Bragg Creek has flooded before and it will flood again but this was not just a 100-year-flood, this is unprecedented in Alberta,” said Breakey.
“Nobody could protect against it … water flow was too much. It overwhelmed everything and then it ended up in Calgary and overwhelmed everything there.”
In addition to the homes flooded along the Elbow River and Whyte Avenue, damage was concentrated in the hamlet’s commercial centre. Familiar landmarks and historical buildings such as the Trading Post, built in the 1930s, were submerged in water. The area surrounding Infusion Contemporary Cuisine, located on Balsam Avenue, was littered with debris such as a lost motorboat, freezer and patio furniture. The road leading to the provincial park was wiped-out.
Marissa Rosati, owner of Bragg Creek Steak Pit on Whyte Avenue, said that although her 52-year-old restaurant didn’t sustain any structural damage, it would take months to rebuild the exterior and repair interior water damage.
“It’s heart-breaking. I did take a tour in town to see the other business owners and a lot of people have it worse than we do. So we got lucky because we’re able to salvage what we have,” she said.
Rocky View County Fire Services and Redwood Emergency Services operated a unified command centre at Bragg Creek’s Banded Peak School with about 30 firefighters from across the County working on rotational shifts to respond to calls and help residents get back into their homes June 22.
“I think I can say that fire, infrastructure organization and enforcement worked really well together,” said Rocky View County Fire Chief Judy Unsworth.
She added more than 200 volunteers from across the county and Calgary came to lend a hand.
“Neighbours were helping each other … so that’s incredibly touching. Some people were very frustrated - they’re under duress, but that’s to be expected … and that’s totally normal under these types of circumstances.”
Rocky View County Captain and Acting Incident Commander Andrew Mardell said County crews were assessing all Bragg Creek properties for water damage and fire risks before power could be turned on; tasking crews to do hazard assessments; working with County Infrastructure and Operations to ensure roads and bridges were safe and barricading those that weren’t; coordinating potable water for residents of Bragg Creek and Redwoods Meadows; and monitoring water levels and flow for potential hazards to ensure floating debris doesn’t form dams.
“The job I saw being done out there was really quite spectacular and how a neighbourhood comes together is really quite amazing. Everybody out there is in quite a devastated position and I look forward to when we get some form of normalcy back,” said Reeve Rolly Ashdown.
Helping out
To help with flood clean-up and damage repair in Bragg Creek, volunteers are asked to sign in and out at the Bragg Creek Community Centre. Landowners requiring assistance can contact the Bragg Creek Response Centre between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. at 403-949-4277.
Meals are being provided by BCCC volunteers to displaced people housed in Redwood Meadows, Bragg Creek and Banded Peak School, as well as volunteers helping with disaster relief. Food donations such as juice boxes, water bottles, cookies, fruit and vegetables are required.
Bragg Creek Community Hall is providing child care for parents volunteering with the disaster response from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Moving forward
On June 24, the Alberta government announced $1 billion as part of the first phase of emergency recovery and reconstruction funding for southern Alberta families and communities.
To help the people who are still displaced and can’t go home, government will provide pre-loaded debit cards that will help with their immediate housing needs and day-to-day purchases. Those who qualify will receive $1,250 per adult and $500 per child. Eligibility criteria and distribution plans are being finalized.
“For those Albertans affected by the floods, let me assure you that we will do everything in our power to support recovery and reconstruction,” said Premier Alison Redford in a press release. “We will rebuild together and our communities will be stronger than ever before.”
The Bragg Creek Community Association has also established an Emergency Relief Fund of about $5,000 to assist residents with a financial need to be able to buy basic necessities. To qualify for funding, applicants must be a resident of Bragg Creek affected by the flood and have no means to financially support their basic necessities. Contact Sunil Mattu at 403-690-1408 to apply. Cash donations can be made at any ATB Financial branch to the Bragg Creek Relief Fund.
Rocky View County officials will be updating residents about more provincial and federal assistance to rebuild properties and recover costs as it becomes available on the website a www.rockyview.ca.
