Quote:
Originally Posted by para transit fellow
Downtown Calgary and East Village flooded from the elbow River. What happened is the water flowed into downtown via the LRT tunnel and the underpasses to get past the elevation of the CPR tracks.
It is counter intuitive but consider that when the Bow is really high level, water from the Elbow has no place to drain into. One could imagine that if downtown only had to deal with the Bow river high flow, the situation would be more manageable.
Sunnyside's flood was not directly from the Bow river. With the river at a high level the storm drain gates were closed to keep the bow water out. However the communities uphill of Sunnyside still had their storm water running down to the river valley.
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I think what you are suggesting is that the resources spent on building the berms in Mission, and such could be focused on the Bow? I suppose that is one way of looking at it. However, I would prefer we mitigate both rivers equally, and I am sure the skyscrapers in Eau Claire, Prince's Island, the Stampede grounds, Bowness, Sunnyside, Inglewood, the Zoo, Fish Creek, etc would all agree.
On Sunnyside, you are right it was not the only factor. However it was a major factor as I have been told. Yes the rain that day, the shut gates, taking the pumping stations offline did all factor in. However, the berm broke by the curling club, and the berms themselves are made of permeable soil thus allowing the river to slowly leach onto Memorial Drive and into the sewers and then into my basement.
I am fine with the diversion tunnel being built, but I we can't forget about the Bow. It is as much if not more damaging than the Elbow. To say we will fix one and not the other isn't going to work.
At any rate, I did chat with my neighbor and he did talk recently at an event the Premier was also at. He did share some things they have been doing for the Bow, but as my neighbor astutely pointed out, they need to do better communication with us common folk. Also, at the same event my neighbor said Nenshi spoke and was quite firm that he wants to make sure the folks in Sunnyside are helped so it doesn't happen again. That was great to hear.
The street we are on have formed a flood brigade so to speak. We have purchased our own pumps, and come up with a good action plan. I just want to make sure it isn't us left all alone again next flood to help ourselves out. We did a great job, but we need all the help we can get, especially if the next one is bigger.