Buying a home in a Calgary Flood Area

[Kavvy]

What are everyone's thoughts on buying a home in a flood area according to the GoA map below?

http://maps.srd.alberta.ca/floodhazard/

If you live in this area, what is 'flood proofing' and is it at all effective?

Is there something on the land titles of these homes due to the 2013 floods?

If the NDP go through with their election promise to build a dry dam, would it essentially make these area's 'safe'? Or is that a bit of an over-promise?

Also, I can't seem to find a area of effect of the 2007 flood, even Wikipedia doesn't mention it, doesn't anyone have a map for that?

Thank you for any comments!

[PaperBagger'14]

All I can add is that I did a lot of work on flooded homes and high rises in both Calgary and High River after the flood. Even with a promise of a dam I wouldn't consider it. Seeing 3 1/2 floors of a parkade flooded floor to ceiling with all of those peoples belongings in storage ruined, cars destroyed, and mud everywhere was enough to completely turn me off. That smell of stagnate water stays with you for a long time.

[OMG!WTF!]

I think the main question is insurance. You can get over land flood insurance now but it's about an extra five k a year. And I don't think it covers full replacement. And I also think you need to do a bunch of flood proofing measures, sealed newer basement windows, sump pump etc.

There are no land title caveats indicating flood zones.

People have short memories. Watch a couple news reruns then buy somewhere else.

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

All I can add is that I did a lot of work on flooded homes and high rises in both Calgary and High River after the flood. Even with a promise of a dam I wouldn't consider it. Seeing 3 1/2 floors of a parkade flooded floor to ceiling with all of those peoples belongings in storage ruined, cars destroyed, and mud everywhere was enough to completely turn me off. That smell of stagnate water stays with you for a long time.

I helped someone "clean out" their basement post flood, which consisted of throwing away their memories, shoveling mud out of their basement and removing walls.

I remember seeing that mud in the basement and it felt so wrong as it was someone's home, if that makes any sense.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by OMG!WTF!

I think the main question is insurance. You can get over land flood insurance now but it's about an extra five k a year. And I don't think it covers full replacement. And I also think you need to do a bunch of flood proofing measures, sealed newer basement windows, sump pump etc.

If you live in an area that is considered high risk, you likely won't be offered any overland water coverage as well you may have a low limit on sewer backup, say no more than $30k which is no where near enough if you have a developed basement.

[Amethyst]

What about if you didn't have a finished basement? Could you basically just decide to leave the basement as an empty shell and then just have the clean-up, should a flood occur, or would it still be devastating to the entire house?

[chemgear]

I remember having looked at some of the homes just before they got flooded. I still recall those brutal images as I drive by them the odd time.

I wouldn't given all the other homes you can find else where without the additional risk. Unless the price is crazy cheap I'd be thinking the risk versus reward of just not bothering for those areas. How much would you be missing out by avoiding the potential headache and stress in the first place?

[vtec260]

Having lived in Winnipeg for close to 25 years and dealing with annual spring thaw, heavy rain, etc. flooding issues, we bought a house higher up on the hill when we moved to Calgary. No more sump pump, hoses to attach/detach, and maintaining it. However, dealing with so much hail during the summer is another issue with living in Calgary.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

What about if you didn't have a finished basement? Could you basically just decide to leave the basement as an empty shell and then just have the clean-up, should a flood occur, or would it still be devastating to the entire house?

Undeveloped basement would certainly make a flood lest costly. Not likely to be devastating to the rest of the house other than maybe a mold concern as it would obviously increase humidity in the house.

[OMG!WTF!]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

If you live in an area that is considered high risk, you likely won't be offered any overland water coverage as well you may have a low limit on sewer backup, say no more than $30k which is no where near enough if you have a developed basement.

You can get over land insurance. It's just whether you want it or not....

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...lood-insurance

Even with an unfinished basement there could be structural issues with the house that go beyond mold problems. Saturated ground can add stress to the concrete.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Interesting, looks like cooperators would cover most people. I wonder how long they'd keep that up though. Every other carrier I've looked at puts extreme restrictions around prone areas if not flat out refuse coverage.

And $5k on top of whatever your premium is to begin with. I spose most people who can afford houses on rivers may not have much problem with that.

[OMG!WTF!]

It also says most people are covered...

About 99 per cent of homeowners will be eligible to purchase this coverage

[GoinAllTheWay]

Yes, but careful with that wording. Combined coverage of 150k meaning between cleaning out and restoring the basement along with the contents. That's not going to go a long way, especially in higher end homes you are going to find in areas like that.

Most carrier will offer cover in all but the very high risk zones but even in lower risk areas, you are either paying a large premium, looking at low limits or a combination of the two. It's been my experience that the only place carriers are offering full policy limits on overland water and sewer b/u is in the lowest risk zones.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Kavvy

I helped someone "clean out" their basement post flood, which consisted of throwing away their memories, shoveling mud out of their basement and removing walls.

I remember seeing that mud in the basement and it felt so wrong as it was someone's home, if that makes any sense.

It makes perfect sense, and it's awful. Unless you're getting one hell of a deal on the house compared to others without that risk, I'd stay far away.

[taco.vidal]

Why would you want to move into one of these areas? Even if you are able to get insurance, are you going to have any peace of mind or are you going to be stressed any spring after a heavy snowfall in winter or heavy rains in the spring?

And even if you are financially covered by insurance, the hassle of losing your home and belongings and then having to rebuild and replace everything?

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Kavvy

I helped someone "clean out" their basement post flood, which consisted of throwing away their memories, shoveling mud out of their basement and removing walls.

I remember seeing that mud in the basement and it felt so wrong as it was someone's home, if that makes any sense.

Ugh. I did the same thing and it took them two years to get things back to normal in the house. Their kids school is still under construction.

I hate to be melodramatic, but it can be life-altering event, and not just a potential inconvenience. I personally wouldn't live in a flood zone after living through the last one. It sucks.

And you also get some amount of anxiety every spring now. That's not the worst part of the experience, but it sucks too!

[Canehdianman]

We just moved to Discovery Ridge and we didn't look at the houses for sale in the flood plain.

Not worth the hassle at all.

[Northendzone]

I remember reading years ago that the Indians knew where the flood plains where and they never put thier tee-pees or villages there

[octothorp]

As someone who lives in the flood fringe, was flooded in 2013, and since done significant flood mitigation, here's the questions I would ask:

1. Find out the specific flood history of the house: key question is separating overland flooding events and storm water flooding events.

2. As much as possible, find out the flood history of the neighbourhood: how far into the neighbourhood has overlanding flooding occurred. Check the innundation maps that the city prepared for flood event threshold. See if you can collect as much annecdotal information as possible about flooding in the neighbourhood as well.

3. In the case of storm-sewer flooding, pay attention to the 'isolated area' sections of those innundation maps. Try to find out from the city water department if they have any flood mitigation planned for the neighbourhood, and where it ranks on the city's priority list (which is based on a cost/benefit structure). I'm not sure if this information is available online, but it is information that the city has and can be made public.

4. Look at what homeowner mitigation is possible from two directions: first, in terms of prevention such as sump pumps, weeping tile, drywells, backflow prevention, etc. And pay attention to the solutions that present particular solutions to the issues that this property has, rather than what experts will tell you as their general catch-all recommendations. Secondly, look at what you can do costwise to mitigate any cleanup: utilities above ground? Water-resistant flooring that can be cleaned without being ripped up? A rigid insulation so that you can rip off any drywall, wipe down the insulation for mold, and then replace the drywall?

Originally Posted by Amethyst

What about if you didn't have a finished basement? Could you basically just decide to leave the basement as an empty shell and then just have the clean-up, should a flood occur, or would it still be devastating to the entire house?

This is a house and site-specific question. If its primary issue is storm sewer flooding, then this is a good way of keeping your costs down if you're okay with an unfinished basement (as mentioned above, even with finishing your basement, there are ways of keeping the costs down). But if there's a history of overland flooding, there's a lot more to consider, because that water is saturating the soil around your house... how much force is it exerting on the foundation? and what is the risk of the water seeping up into other parts of the house?

[Kavvy]

Thanks all for the detailed replies! I appreciate the insight and queries I should be asking myself.

One thing barley discussed in the replies is the AB Gov't Spring-bank dry dam, which is "approved" from a provincial level, however, the Federal government is still reviewing the plan. Who the heck knows if it will go through, and survive the next election as a great deal of Albertan's are against tax dollars going to this type of project.

Based on the notes online, it appears that this dam would prevent another 2013 event. If this goes through... thoughts on living in a Roxboro, Rideau Park, Elbow Park, Elboya nearly Stanley park, etc (i.e. the hardest hit areas)?



http://aep.alberta.ca/water/programs...bank-road.aspx