Temporary flood mitigation measures are slated to be put in place before the upcoming river breakup.
That’s according to the RMWB who says crews will be installing triple dams and placing sandbags to ensure downtown, Longboat Landing, Draper, Waterways, Ptarmigan Court, and Taiga Nova Eco-Industrial park aren’t flooded for a second straight year if ice begins to jam.
These efforts are costing the municipality $10 million.
“This should have been done 20 years ago after the last flood in 1997 or one of the 16 floods before that,” said Mayor Don Scott.
Clay berms were built in 2020 to protect Waterways and Taiga Nova.
Triple dams – which are flexible, water-filled flood barriers – will start being installed in March to cover Longboat Landing, Ptarmigan Court and Taiga Nova, as well as portions of downtown and Waterways.
As for their sandbag program, the municipality is still in the process of finding a vendor to supply materials for up to 100,000 sandbags. These will be given to property owners as added defense against any flooding.
Scott says all these efforts will protect the areas from a one-in-two hundred year flood.
“Those who’ve followed those things over the years will realize that the previous efforts were to one-in-one hundred years and I don’t believe that was satisfactory.”
As for Draper, property owners are encouraged to take part in the sandbag program as their temporary mitigation focuses on public property. As an additional precaution, there will be an egress road from Draper in time for river breakup.
The breakup usually happens between mid and late April.
