Residents near Langdon are dealing with some localized flooding after a series of storms hit the hamlet during the last week of July and the first week of August.
“Our ditches have been full since the storm we had on July 17,” said Kim Demko, who lives in a subdivision along Jesse Trail.
“But our ditches have started overflowing onto the road, and the next lowest spot is my basement. My family spent a lifetime building up this subdivision, and this means the world to me. I have eight acres of land completely underwater, and a river about to come into my house.”
According to Demko, the ponds in her subdivision haven’t flooded in the 20 years she’s lived in the area, and she’d never had to pump water before. When she contacted Rocky View County (RVC) for assistance, she said she was instructed to begin building berms and sandbagging the area to control the water.
“We’ve been pumping like crazy to get the water out to the road where the County can get to it,” she said.
“I feel like we are really saving this cul-de-sac, these million dollar homes that are owned by my neighbours and my friends. But one storm could make or break it at this point. I’m still holding back rivers.”
Meteorologist Brian Proctor with Environment and Climate Change Canada said long range forecast models do indicate a drying trend further into August, but the summer storm season has been “very active” throughout the province.
“Recently, we’ve seen flooding in Edmonton, Grand Prairie, Fort McMurray, and we’ve had some very active thunderstorms producing big hail and a lot of precipitation across the Calgary area,” he said. “Our period of record for Calgary goes back to 1881, and this has been the second rainiest July on record, with 206.1 millimeters of rain during the month of July.”
While Byron Riemann, RVC’s general manager of infrastructure and operations, said the entire county has been impacted by all the rain in the past few weeks, Langdon is especially susceptible to drainage issues because the area is so flat.
“There is a lot of surcharging of systems that is happening because of all the rain events, and we are monitoring the community to make sure we don’t further complicate Langdon drainage areas,” he said. “We are pumping to assist those landowners, but at the same time we need to balance that pumping because the water ends up in Langdon.”
Demko said RVC has been understanding about her subdivision’s “dire needs,” but she remains concerned about the amount of water encroaching on her property. Currently, she said, she is unable to feed or exercise her horses since the pasture is so flooded.
“I’ve never seen it like this and I don’t really think anyone realized how bad it was,” she said. “I never used to have ponds in my backyard, but over time, my land has really just disappeared.”
