The latest in the long line of Ministers of Municipal Affairs is perfectly positioned politically to connect with this conservative constituency.  But it’s going to take more than announcements to truly connect.  If there is to be a redeemer for this infamous ministerial position, it might just be Danielle Larivee.

​Larivee, recently minted Minister of Municipal Affairs, becomes the sixth Minister of Municipal Affairs since the 2013 Floods, and the latest to inherit the DRP Disaster.  That is a new boss every 4.5 months, or 19 weeks.  Marginally longer than the average probationary period for a job at Tim Horton's.

Following the provincial election in the spring we were expecting the NDP to appoint a saviour for the flood victims who would oversee DRP’s repairs and the completion of mitigation projects.  Apparently the title Minister of Municipal Affairs is filled with bad joo joo, and Deron Bilous was shifted out of the job, just like his four predecessors.

It’s this premonition I am most worried about.  Thankfully Minister Larivee is actively combatting those bad omens.

Today she announced $30 million in funding for the various mitigation projects on the Highwood River, the most significant of which is the southwest berm, a project High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass has deemed of the utmost importance.  In addition, she has also committed to studying upstream and downstream mitigation to prevent further disasters.  The Deltares reports have been used to reaffirm that diversion is not the best option, and represents a good decision and initiative started by the previous PC Government.

Minister Larivee has also stated a number of fixes to the DRP program.  One of those fixes was that every file that was paid a little too much (likely from the 90% advance promised by Jim Prentice) will be able to keep that money if it was under $5000.  For those who were given over $5000 too much, other arrangements need to be made.  Larivee also said she was looking for complete closure of all DRP files by June 20, 2016.  She indicated that DRP will take “a proactive approach to establishing contact with” the people whose files have remained inactive, likely because the applicant isn’t calling the province back.  There are plenty of reasons why they wouldn’t call the province back, all of them legitimate, so it is great to hear that the government will seek them out rather than waiting for contact themselves.  This should also allay fears that DRP will close files prematurely, and show care, consideration and compassion for the remaining applicants.

Much of this is good news.  It means her hands are on the files, and she is actively seeking completion in this area of her ministry.  I feel the need to apply a bit of pressure, as she is after all the sixth person tasked with this.  To be clear, after having talked with Minister Larivee briefly, she is very aware that nobody wants yet another person in charge, and she wants to be the one to finish the job.  That in and of itself is a huge plus, and if she gets it done, she could be considered the redeemer of that infamous ministerial position's bad joo joo.

The pressure has to be on three issues.

1. Minister Larivee committed to closing files, but as she was asked by staff of the High River Times and as I have asked before, the word “closed” is not the same as “fully funded”.  She admitted today to not being briefed on the difference in definitions.  I assert that in order to be able to fulfill her June 20, 2016 deadline, she needs to know exactly what those definitions are, and not just be briefed on them.  Briefings have been shown to fall short of fact, and as a result former Ministers have had their ability to oversee the DRP limited.
2. Minister Larivee did not commit to an independent review of the DRP program, and in fact led people at the announcement today to believe that she has no intention of going down that road.  That is dangerous territory, because few Albertans are going to trust the reports she has received, as they were all commissioned by the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, the office in charge of DRP.  That would be like an employee conducting their own employee review.  In order for the recommendations to be trustworthy in the eyes of Albertans, including the 91% of Alberta Urban Municipalities who voted to call for this inquiry, such recommendations must come from a study that is entirely independent of the AEMA, and maybe even the Ministry itself.
3. Finally, today was yet another announcement.  After every shuffle, whether it is because somebody quits to run for a leadership, a Wildrose caucus defects to the PCs, or a new Ministry of Economic Development causes the shuffle, the new Minister comes out to High River with an announcement.  High Riverites cannot be faulted for demanding more than an announcement.  They want action.  $30 million for flood mitigation is action.  Helping flood victims close this chapter of their lives is action.  This was a great announcement from Minister Larivee, but now the pressure must be placed on her to ensure she converts it to action, and that she is directly involved throughout the process.

Time will tell how serious Minister Larivee is about getting this job done.  The metric to be watching for is how hands-on she remains.  Her predecessor didn’t.  Maybe Larivee can rebuild some bridges, both literally and figuratively, and while she’s at it, make connections between the NDP Government and people out here in conservative country.

We want to trust our government.  We need a reason to.  Minister Larivee is perfectly positioned to give us that reason.  The Ministry of Municipal Affairs is in big need of redeeming.  So I’m watching.

​And I’m hoping.

And if we can't slow this cart down, I may have to sell my house.

The cart, of course, is the massive load of mitigations that we all know must be done if High River is to remain in any state.

The horse is the labor required to pull this load properly and in the right direction.  That horse (we'll name him "Informed Decision-Making") in this case should be built upon science, study, experience.

But gravity is ramming that cart up that horse's rear.

The gravity of the situation is that there is massive pressure on government and elected officials to do something, anything, to show that High River will still be standing when the next flood season ends.

Gravity is pushing us downhill.  If we can't sort out some way of getting this horse back in charge, we're in serious trouble.

Above you see the latest recommendations from Town Council sent to the provincial government asking for money to do it.  Your legend: Navy Blue is a berm.  Yellow is a reinforced embankment/berm.  Cyan is a dike.  Fuschia is a dike.  Green is a dike.  Orange is a dike.  White is the Little Bow Canal.

Let's analyze this, shall we?

If you put a wall up that is perpendicular to the flow of water, that water will stop, spread, and go around it if possible.  That's the blue line.  So if enough water comes up against that blue berm, it will spill around to the north into Riverside where, because there's a yellow berm in the way, it will have nowhere to drain.  It will continue to pool up into a new lake, and my home would be in the middle of it.

The second they approve this is the second I put my home up for sale.  But I will not be able to sell it, because anyone with half a brain will be able to figure out that I'm trying to sell a 3-season houseboat.

Further, the blue berm doesn't take into account the fact that the Town has been working on a development encircling the northwest corner of town called "Spitzee Crossing".  This blue berm will not only pool up into currently existing residential neighbourhoods, but will negate the possibility of developing Spitzee Crossing.

Maybe that's the point, as that development has been in the works for over a decade, and has been stalled at every opportunity.  The development, for that matter, has purposely avoided and given a great big buffer-zone to the Highwood River.  It's one development that might actually make sense after the flood.

A further problem with this plan is that it is old.  It was presented to the Alberta Government 4 years ago based on 10-year-old flood maps, and rejected.  It hasn't changed, it is still built on old flood maps.

When we will get the picture?  Nothing is the same!!!

The Town of High River and the M.D. of Foothills has sunk multitudes of taxpayer dollars into developing a cutting-edge piece of software that helps them plan flood mitigations.  Not only does it map where water goes now and where it would go if the flows increased, it also gives planners the opportunity to say "what would happen if we put a berm here or a bridge there," and see the results.

But this request was not made in consultation with that software.  It was made on old defunct maps.

I want to scream "stop being stupid!"

It's not the first time since the flood that knee-jerk reactions have cause harmful impacts.  A Bow River guide explained to me today that the Highwood River, where it dumps into the Bow River, was crystal clear for the first half of August.  On August 18, that changed, and it was black with mud.

Just days before, upstream about 20 miles, "scalping" of the riverbanks in High River had begun.

Making new berms, making old berms bigger, and making old dikes deeper, have absolutely no impact on flood control.  Using old maps to determine solutions to new problems is like trying to install a carburetor on a Chevrolet Volt.

That same river guide pointed something out to me today.  The Mississippi is relatively straight.  Downstream of Calgary the Bow River is straight.  The Sheep River is relatively straight.  They were made that way by floods.

In High River, the Highwood River still "snakes" through town.  In town limits alone, it turns 20 times.  Why hasn't the flood straightened it out?

Because it hasn't been a fast and powerful flood.  It certainly got to High River in a hurry, but once there, it was stopped up, and so the flow wasn't fast enough to actually allow the river to cut a straight line.  This has to have happened in every flood for decades, or else the river would be straight today.

So what has existed for decades that has stopped that river up?  Bridges.  The first one; a railroad bridge whose efficacy at blocking the river is enhanced by a road bridge.  That bridge causes the water to back up and spill into downtown every time a few trees gets caught on it. The second one; a new bridge on the Tongue Creek extension known to many as the George Groeneveld bridge.  While its impact wasn't as significant, it definitely causes some backup when debris hits it.  The third one is east of Aldersyde, where Highway 2 goes over the Highwood River.  It got heavily backed up by debris, so much so that it spilled back into the east side of High River.

Bridges act as bottlenecks in the first place.  When those bottlenecks get plugged, the water pools back, affecting everything upstream.

If there is an immediate solution that will alleviate issues, it is to fix the bridges. In the case of the rail bridge, get rid of it, it's not even in use anymore.  The centre-street road bridge, it needs to be a four-lane road anyway, so raise it up and make it longer.  The Highway 2 bridge by Aldersyde needs to be raised and widened so that debris cannot get hung up on it as easily.

If you give the water a place to go without bottlenecks, floods are far less likely to be as devastating.  If you berm it in and try to "stop" the water from going somewhere, Mother Nature will just laugh at you as she bulldozes your berm with thousands of cubic meters of water.

Now I'm not the most brilliant hydrologist in the world, but even a layman like me can figure out what's going to happen here.

And the horse is starting to get scared.

We are now passed the cross-roads.  It is now over two months since the flood, and less than two months before we have a new Town Council.  Very soon, if you haven't already, you'll see the campaigns begin.

Look at what has happened.  Basements have been stripped out.  Tens of thousands of tonnes of our former lives have been taken to the dump.  Infrastructure has been moved, changed, remodelled, and rebuilt.  Yes indeed, lots has been done.

However, there are still multitudes who feel like they are being left behind.  Landlords, renters, small and mid-sized businesses, and residents who have nothing left and limited coverage are still in limbo.

Yet out of the receding waters comes opportunity.  In High River, a building stands empty where a library once stood.  An incredible opportunity to rebuild the arts and culture in the town now sits in that empty shell.  Schools in town are undergoing slight modifications to better use the space they have.  Serious consideration to mitigation efforts is being given, and various roadblocks to getting those completed are being removed.

2 weeks after the flood I saw the "For Sale" signs pop up, and I was worried. Within the past two weeks, many of those "For Sale" signs have been replaced with "Sold" signs, and I am encouraged.  My neighbours, two wonderful people I've had the pleasure of sharing a fence with, are moving on, but our new neighbours hale from Calgary, which reminds me that High River, even in it's most significant need, is still a place other people want to live.

Yes indeed, there is opportunity in them waters.

We need clear communication to understand how every action helps our town.

We need decisions to be informed and to fulfill a long-term vision.  No more band-aid solutions with short term gains, long-term consequences.

We need to stop doing studies that are already done, and start moving forward.

We need to spend smart.  Rather than tear out a road to fix one problem, repave it, and tear it out again months later to fix another that could have been fixed the first time, we need to spend the resources we have in the most efficient way possible.

We need to redevelop all of High River, not just the location of berms.  This community is rich in culture, even though there is minimal support for it.  The character of our town resides in our Downtown core, and it must be retained.  Developments must be smart, forward-looking, and with a 10-year vision, not a re-election vision.

Some people still fear how High River will recover.  The answer is "it will".  How it recovers is dependent on who leads the recovery.  The best parts of democracy start with the right people for the job in the local government.

I've heard time and time again "it won't matter what Council does, because in two years everyone will forget."  Do not allow yourselves to forget.  Hold Town Council to account.  Only then can we have any hope of avoiding June 20, 2013 again.

I implore everyone to really get to know your Town of High River Council candidates.  The right people can make this Town a beacon of light in Alberta.  The wrong people can cause a flood of problems that we will be managing for decades.

The right people are electable because they will do what's right.  The wrong people are electable because they are the loudest.

I believe Richard Murray is one of those "right people".  Murray will do what's right.  He won't be the loudest, but his background knowledge, his "big picture thinking", and his vision make him the "right person".  So while I know he won't be the loudest, I'll be loud for him.

While I've already told you why, I still believe you need to see for yourself, so visit his site at www.voteformurray.ca.

Because I love this town.

We've lost focus. We are talking about the wrong things.

Don't get me wrong, the things we are talking about need to be discussed.  Raj Sherman is exactly right asking about how contracts are being distributed.  Danielle Smith is exactly right to call for a public inquiry.  The PCs are right to get started on mapping and mitigations, they just don't know how to do it.

None of this matters to many Albertans right now.

We must focus on the disaster at hand, and get the recovery taken care of.  The PCs aren't getting that job done, but they are right to focus on it.

There are still hundreds of people, maybe thousands, who have no idea where their insurance coverage stops and the Disaster Recovery Program starts.  This is not specifically a High River problem, even though they dominate the news.  There are people in Exshaw, Bragg Creek, Medicine Hat, Black Diamond and Calgary still in limbo waiting for answers from their insurance company.  Companies are not necessarily at fault; they are trying to protect their bottom line, and they do so by saying "the Disaster Recovery Program will cover that for you".  But the job of the government is to protect their citizens, and they aren't doing it.

There are still hundreds of people who also have no place to live.  Again, this is not specifically a High River problem, although most of the people in this boat live there.  However, there are those who live in Exshaw, Bragg Creek, Medicine Hat and Black Diamond who, because they weren't in the floodplain but were rather in the flood fringe or no zone at all, are unable to relocate.  Some of those people are unable to build on the former site because, as could be expected with flood waters, the ground their home used to be on is now very far downstream.  Soil contamination is preventing homeowners from returning.

An exemplar; George Lane Park, a beautiful park and campground in downtown High River and just on the flip side of a berm from the river, was heavily flooded; at least 6 inches of silt covered the land.  Today, grass grows through the silt.

However, if you drive through the northeast end of the town, almost 60 days after the flood, no grass grows.  Not even a weed.

You cannot rebuild a home where grass won't even grow, and expect families to let their kids play there.

The Town of High River's Downtown Core is nothing but empty shell after empty shell.  If small business doesn't come back right away, there won't be a reason to rebuild High River.

Residents across southern Alberta know they need help transferring from insurance coverage to Disaster Recovery Funding, and many also know they need help determining how to live anywhere when they can't rebuild where they are.  And all they are hearing from opposition parties is stuff they couldn't care less about ... yet.

So congratulations PCs, you are focusing on the right thing.  However, that's where my congratulations stops.

Under the leadership of Doug Griffiths (not Alison Redford, she has been woefully silent on everything), we have seen flood victims treated like children under his "father knows best" mentality.

At a meeting in High River, Griffiths' numerous "I know how you feel" statements showed he knows anything but how High Riverites feel.

When the official Disaster Recovery Program email is shown to have an autoresponder that says "we will not respond to your email" and is admonished for it, Griffiths responds with "It was fixed already. Try to keep up".  Yes father, I will understand that even though you did wrong, I should not expect an apology, but rather will be scolded like a child.

My favorite Griffiths quote (insert sarcastic tone here): "taxpayers cannot be on the hook just because you're scared."  I now understand that being scared precludes me from being a taxpayer, thanks for the education, Mr. Griffiths.

The problem is that when Griffiths sees a gymnasium stuffed to the point of being called an illegal assembly full of people who are trying to tell him his government is not doing enough, he patronizes them instead of coming up with solutions.

The solutions are easy.  They are in the best interests of PCs, just to get the mob to be quiet, if not to actually help them.

Fund an ombudsman who will help individuals with their insurance, and once they're insurance is completed, have that same ombudsman guide them into the Disaster Recovery Process.  The sooner people get into the DRP system, the less Mr. Griffiths will have to hear gripe from flood victims because, get this, he has actually helped them.

The only reason the government would not do this is because of the fear of the cost of paying these ombudsmen.  I suggest spending a comparatively small amount on the salaries of these ombudsmen, as it will almost definitely save the DRP administrative costs, and will streamline the process, making it more cost effective and efficient.

Adjust the Disaster Recovery Program criteria to help those where rebuilding is simply not an option.  Griffiths has already explained that each DRP claim will be treated on an individual basis.  Why not just tell these people that if rebuilding is not an option, steps will be taken to either make it an option, or to relocate.  Then Mr. Griffiths will not have to hear gripe from these flood victims because, get this, he has actually helped them.

The only reason the government won't do this is because they are afraid that once they start relocating even just one resident, they've set a precedent.  It's a more dangerous precedent to make residents feel as though they have no choice but to walk away from everything they've worked for.  Once you do that, the government is going to need to start increasing funding for homeless shelters, because that's where all these flood victims will end up.

Do whatever it takes to get small and mid-sized businesses back in their buildings.  Intervene on rental/landlord disputes for a temporary time, and get the repair process expedited in business-places immediately.  Help retail outlets purchase stock right away, they are already passed the point of ordering for Christmas.  Do what it takes.

The only reason the government hasn't done this, as Doug Griffiths has explained, is that they are still focused on residents, and they'll get to businesses later.  Not good enough.  No business means no residents.  He of all people should know this.

It has become obvious that fatherly Doug Griffiths will not listen to the children. He can't see the forest for the floodwaters.

It also became obvious long ago that the Associate Ministers in charge of Recovery and Reconstruction are not in the position to make these decisions, being relegated by the father to the back of the room or even further outside the hall, as was the case with Rick Fraser in High River last week.

So where is the leader of our province in all this?  Nowhere.  She doesn't run this province.  Even when she said "we will return all to what it once was", the rest of her caucus isn't following through with it.  She is not leading.  Such a shame that she isn't even willing to consider what her late mother's neighbours are suggesting.  Even her constituents in Calgary-Elbow can't get in touch with her.  I wonder if the PCs will be willing to allow a non-leader to allow the caucus to continue to run amok?

I hope she steps up to the plate.  She needs to show up to her own party.  But she needs to do it now, because we're starting to lose focus on the needs of right now.

Through the Associate Minister Responsible for Regional Recovery and Reconstruction in High River Rick Fraser, I've been pressing for details on what's next for Albertans affected by the flood.  Sunday, 38 days after the flood, most answers came.

Yet today, 40 days after the flood, there are still High River residents falling through the cracks in the foundation.

Refer to my letter to Fraser identifying the details Albertans needed.  The only question remaining completely outstanding is that of the Disaster Recover Program Loophole.  If the Disaster Recovery Program is the foundation upon which we "rebuild Alberta", then residents in the Hamptons of High River (and a few in other areas) are falling through the cracks in that foundation.

Hamptons residents are not in a flood plain or fringe zone.  Therefore, according to the Disaster Recovery Program, if they want to be able to get help from the Government in the event of a future flood, they have to floodproof.  And let's face it, where the water has gone, the water will go again.

This assumes, of course, that the Hamptons residents CAN stay, and therefore can choose to floodproof or not.  It provides nothing for them if they CAN'T stay.

While everyone else was already allowed back in, people in the Hamptons and one area of Sunrise were given an escort into their homes, and 15 minutes maximum to collect their most precious things.  Two days later, they were allowed back in.

I was there helping out a friend of mine.  The stench of the entire community was sickening.  I drive a Honda Fit, a car that can park in those tiny spots that nobody else considers in the parking lot, and there was so much activity I couldn't even drive through.  People had obviously been waiting for this moment, and every helper and volunteer they could get was there.

Residents could see it; the reason it took so long to get them home.  It is a massive berm that runs along 2nd Avenue.  Certainly creating that berm in the middle of Lake Hampton would have been no small feat.  But creating that berm meant everyone south of it could have the Lake pumped out, and everyone north of it, including the Hamptons and one area of Sunrise, would be sacrificed.  Water out of the south end would be pumped into the backyards, basements, and sewage systems of the Hamptons.  While the flood caused the water to be there, the extent of the damage was due to being bermed in; a man-made solution.

For interest's sake, those who made decisions during the emergency phase never admitted to sacrificing the Hamptons.  In fact, they never received that admission until last Friday, 37 days after the flood, 34 days after the decision to sacrifice, and only in a very closed-door meeting (which I was invited to, but not allowed in because I was not a resident of a small area known as Hamptons Commons).

Ask almost any resident in the Hamptons and Sunrise, and they'll tell you they understand the need to be sacrificed.  They are the few, and the Central and Southeast areas of High River was the many.  In fact, some residents will even tell you they were proud to have their homes selected for sacrifice to save the town they love.

Approximately 48-hour of straight labour with that berm looming over them later, Alberta Health Services came around and told people to leave their homes, labelling them "Not Fit for Human Habitation", whether it be for structural or mould problems.  Many AHS assessors didn't even come in the front door, unless they were forced to do so by a contractor working on their clients behalf.  The vast majority of those who got the NFH designation were never told what to do or what to expect next.

Nobody has told the Hamptons residents why it took so long, although they have figured it out for themselves.  Nobody had told them what the next step was, except to sign up for a Disaster Recovery Program whose criteria never applied to them.  None of the litany of assessors that have been around are giving any details as to what needs to be done next.

One resident gets frustrated enough to bring in his own structural engineer.  The recommendation by that independent engineer was to bulldoze.

Another resident gets frustrated enough to bring in his own mould specialist.  This specialist explains that he had seen marijuana grow ops in better shape than this Hamptons house, and they were bulldozed.

A resident of Sunrise, a very well-respected landscaper, explains that to get rid of the soil contamination from sewage, chemicals left in garages that will have spilled into the Lake, and other leaching effects, they may need to strip the entire community down to the clay.  One look at the vegetative death in the community that has shown no signs of recovery weeks after Lake Hampton was gone, and its hard to not agree with him.

The residents are getting a pretty good picture of what's going to happen. They can't afford to raise their families or live in a home with structural problems, mould contaminating both the inside and outside, and sewage-ridden soil.  They can't afford to stay.  There is no choice for them, they must move.  And that leaves their neighbours who think they might be able to stay wonder why they'd stay in a community with no community.  Finally the phrase "property values" is mentioned.  And as the Disaster Recovery Program is announced, they also realize that their situation is exacerbated by the fact the criteria don't even fit them.


Take a peek at these photos.  The photography is beautiful, the subject material is spirit-breaking.  This is a typical Hamptons home.  This is a typical sacrificial lamb.

And the foundation for "rebuilding Alberta", the Disaster Recovery Program, is telling these people they must stay.  There is no coverage for stripping the soil to the clay.  There is no amount of remediation that could correct both the structures and the mould.  Even a rebuild is not an option.


In prances Tervita, fresh off a $45 million contract with the Province of Alberta, here to save the day.  Even though they just finished refurbishing the Saddledome in Calgary, they haven't got enough employees to do the job, so they hold a job fair to hire High Riverites.  They're ONLY mandate; remediate.

Hamptons residents are told to register with Tervita (after already having had to register with Red Cross, Emergency Operations Centres, the Volunteer Centre, their Insurance Companies, and Alberta Health Services).  They're told within 24 hours they'll get a call, and within 48 hours of that an assessor will come out.  Nope and nope.  9 days after Tervita was awarded the contract, the Hamptons still looked as if Tervita had only been around for a day.  It was still deserted.

It's an eery feeling driving through that neighbourhood that just a week ago had so much activity I couldn't drive my subcompact car through it.

The homeowners expect to see seasoned experts come and assess, and so are surprised when they find the assessors coming are much younger than they.  One pair of assessors go in saying it will take them about 90 minutes, and come out 19 minutes later with puffy eyes and shortness of breath.

On Friday, July 26 at 1 PM, Tervita met with some of the Hamptons owners.  They were given a sheet of paper with a fill-in-the-blank statement giving the Queen, the Town of High River and Tervita access to their homes and to strip whatever they decided they needed to strip.  No letterhead, and no other paperwork indicating what assessments had been done to show work was even required.  Residents asked what was going to be stripped.  Residents asked what chemicals would be used to deal with mould.  Residents asked who the engineer was in charge of the job.  No answers came.  So the residents didn't sign.

I wouldn't have signed either.  It sounds almost like an unsavoury car mechanic trying to convince me that it cost $200 to put a plug in a door panel.

Then the proverbial gun-to-the-head: those residents who said they wouldn't sign were immediately told that if they didn't, the Government wouldn't help them, and they were on their own.

A meeting with Danielle Smith, and she gathers many notes and starts pounding the pavement with insurance providers who are still giving residents the run-around, pressing for the Government to reconsider their stance on the Hamptons in light of the fact they were sacrificed, and keeping track of the charlatan contractors that come around.

Smith, for her part, has done very well by the Hamptons.  But even she, at that meeting, admitted there was only so much she could do.

So, indeed, as promised by Tervita, the Hamptons residents are on their own.  This is why you saw them at a protest in front of Alison Redford's office in Calgary.  They had no problem going, as they have no home to work on, and for many of them their businesses are also on standby due to the flood.

Work through the Governments formula for Disaster Recovery Funding, and you'll find that the average Hamptons home would cost only $10,000 less to rebuild than it would to simply buy them out.  And that doesn't even include the soil, loss of property value, and the fact that the community will be, as a colleague of mine stated, a "Swiss Cheese" community.  All value, either financial, physical or community-based, is gone in the Hamptons, and the owners know it was because they were sacrificed.

Don't you think that they deserve a bit better than 40 days with only half-measures and no answers?

More follow-up on the questions I posed to Fraser.

On July 18, 2013 there was a Flood Information Night that left many scratching their heads.  I posted some questions as a summary of what we needed to know.  The status of those questions is as follows;

Flood Maps - A flood mitigation panel has been set up, one that is supposed to solicit the experience of everyday Albertans who go through floods on a regular basis.  Contact information for them is outstanding, as is a timeline for when to expect the maps to be updated by.

Insurance Complaints - Detailed procedures for how to manage this have been documented, and Danielle Smith in particular has been working hard on this, but in many cases complaints still arise.  It is for this reason, as well as the confusion behind the purpose Tervita has in High River and the Disaster Recover Program, that I have called on Premier Redford for employ an "Event-Specific Ombudsman".  With a person in that role, those with continuing challenges of various sorts with their coverage can have those challenges fixed faster, and therefore they can get back home faster.

Disaster Recovery Funding Timeline - Not provided, although details on the formula for coverage has been released.

Mortgages - The Government has asked for all renewal and foreclosure activity to stop for the time being.  Also, the Government has started to institute the Floodway Designations on the Land Titles for those who have been affected.  This recommendation came from the 2006 Flood Report.  The jury is still out as to whether or not that will protect homeowners from issues in the real estate market, or make it harder for them to sell.  In many cases, I think protection is what it will achieve.

Floodproofing Standards - The Government, yesterday, released the details every Albertan needs to figure out how to prepare their homes best.  They call them the "Minimum Individual Flood Mitigation Measures".  I call them Floodproofing Standards.  Either way, details on what floodproofing looks like have been announced, and this is good news for everyone.

I'll give the Alberta Government credit for being forward thinking.  However, they are leaving a lot of Albertans behind in the present while they focus on the future.

This is not unusual, as our province is dealing with chronic symptoms of this approach.  There are homeless people being left behind, mentally ill not being cared for, and senior citizens being ignored.  As many of us have heard before, the quality of a society is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable.  Today's example of vulnerable Albertans being left behind are those still trying to get back into their homes after the 2013 flood, 32 days later.

This past weekend, the Government of Alberta announced a volunteer panel of experts in flood mitigation who would work to come upon solutions for the future.  Their intent is to take into account the knowledge, experience, and opinion of everyday Albertans.  This is a fantastic concept, and I'll congratulate the Alberta Government on this project, as it is necessary for us to move forward.

However, the Government is missing out on one key thing; flood mitigation does not matter in the slightest in the minds of Albertans who can't even get into their homes as a result of this flood.

I thought the Government already set themselves out a framework of priorities for response to this flood.  It seems they forgot them already.

For many Albertans in High River, the Siksika Nation, Exshaw and Calgary (among other places, I'm sure), they are still in the "Stabilization" phase of that framework; some could even argue they are still in the "Response" phase.  This panel is only applicable to the "Intermediate Recovery", arguably the "Long Term Recovery" phases.

Yes we need to discuss how to prevent this from happening again to the best of our ability.  But not at the expense of those who are waiting to be helped back into their homes right now.

These people need answers to questions of what they should do now.  These questions aren't "what should we do in the future to prevent this?"  These questions are "what do I need to do to be able to go home?"

A lady at a Flood Information Night in High River called the residents who haven't gotten home yet the "sacrificial lambs".  Announcing a flood mitigation panel is not likely to change that viewpoint.

Please share this Open Letter addressed to Rick Fraser.  These are the questions we need answers to immediately, before anybody should care about flood mitigation for the future.

Doug Griffiths made an announcement that put some people in a tizzy this past week.  Some claimed it was insensitive to High Riverites, although I disagree.  It's the detail this announcement was missing.

Monday night, people came in droves to the High River Expo at Highwood High School.  They left more confused than ever.

I went with one question in mind, the one question that must be answered before anything can be detailed with this new flood-disaster funding policy.  How long should we expect to wait until we have updated flood maps that take into account the changes in terrain from this most recent flood?

I first went to the Disaster Recovery Plan booth.  They told me to talk to the people at the Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) booth.  I went there, and asked the same question.

They told me there was no need.

What?

The floodway maps they are currently distributing, and the floodway maps that are on their oh-so-special app on their website are based on regular flood occurences, not the once-a-century floods, and so they should remain accurate.

I call Taurus Excrement.

I asked what would prompt them to start the process of remapping.  They said they'd have to be there physically to reassess and see a potential need.  I told them I'd save them that step and explain the need to them right now.

Examine the below diagram from ESRD's floodplains map.  Running north and south down the center, near the bottom, is a line that seems to divide light red from yellow, meaning it divides flood fringe from no-risk land.

That line is a railroad track berm.  Or at least it was.

Observe what remains of that berm.

The representative from the ESRD seemed to understand there may be a need, although somewhat grudgingly.  I then asked what the next step would be.

She explained ESRD would need to consult with all the stakeholders, including the railroad company, the town and the province, to see if there was any intent to replace and repair that berm.  They'd also have to wait until the municipality asked them to upgrade the flood maps.

And then ...?

And then they'll start the process of updating the maps.

A process before the request process to get a process started.  In my mind, not acceptable.

Canadian Pacific Railway owns that track, and hasn't used it for at least 4 years.  I'd be surprised if they have any interest in rebuilding it.  I won't speak for the town, but I would suggest that they will take quite some time before they start discussing rezoning and building berms, as they have a bit more on their plate right now.

So I translate this to mean months of bureaucracy.

I know this to be the norm for our PC government, but I was hoping for a more common sense approach to our need during this abnormal time.

Here's the deal: if people in Alberta do not know where those flood plains 
actually are (not just where some out-of-date map says they are), how can we protect our homes?  Nowhere in Alberta is this more frustrating on such a mass scale as in High River.

This isn't just about whether or not we will get Disaster Relief in the future.  This is about whether or not our homes and businesses are at risk in the first place.  Nobody will build in High River if they can't even be assured of where the floodplains are.

We need to have these maps updated not now, not months from now, but on Sunday, the same day Minister Griffiths made his policy announcement.

Thankfully, Rick Fraser, Associate Minister for the Recovery of High River, was two booths away.  So I pulled him aside and asked him about this process before the request process to get the process started.  After about 5 minutes of listening to a few talking points, I pulled out my tablet showing him the map above, and he finally clued in.  His response; "they will get going on this if I have anything to say about it."

Alright, one small step for one small man, I thought.  But just in case, I went to Danielle Smith, my MLA, who was also right beside us.  I explained the exact same thing to her.

She shared my sentiment.  She said she had heard similar concerns before, although she had not yet heard what ESRD's triple-stage process was like.  I told her I spoke to Mr. Fraser.  She said "let's wait a couple of days, and be optimistic."

These days I find exercising patience for the sake of optimism much more challenging, and somewhat unnecessary, but I took Smith's suggestion.  It is now two days later.

I asked @RickFraserMLA if there was any news, and did not involve Smith because I knew she was in Red Deer for the day.  The Government of Alberta's twitter feed @YourAlberta responded instead, telling me that nothing has been started except to make the floodmaps mobile-device accessible.  Apparently that will be ready next week.

Priority has been set on making sure I can read this on my cellphone, not whether or not what I'm reading is even accurate or applicable.

So finally, I am pulling my Alberta Party hat out.  I have worked hard to avoid doing it, but I cannot any longer, knowing that what we need is not what either the PC government is willing to work for, nor is Danielle Smith going to do as she waits in optimism.

Wearing my Alberta Party hat in the constituency of Highwood, I will work to make sure floodplain maps are updated immediately.  You don't need to elect me to do this.  I will do it because I know it is needed.  We'll start with the Highwood constituency, and then I will continue this work starting at all communities close to the mountains and working our way downstream of each river system in Alberta.  We will endeavour to skip the three-stages of process-before-the-request-process-to-start-the-process and get this going right away because we need it in our hands already.  If we can't do that, we'll pressure the process to get done faster.

Don't worry, this won't be the only thing the Alberta Party in Highwood works on, as there is a great deal more that needs our common sense input.  If you would like to help in this, feel free to join me.  Send me a message at aphighwood@gmail.com, and we'll get this work done so Albertans know what they need to know.

The Alberta Party will make common sense work for you.

Numerous posts on various sites I have seen, including Facebook, news article comments, and many more, have given credit for the creation of unofficially named Lake Hampton to the new Tongue Creek Road extension, known to many as the George Groeneveld Bridge, or 498th Avenue.  At first blush, that would make sense, given the map below.

However, people passing this judgement seem to have forgotten that this map is woefully incomplete.  It's missing the road that goes past the cemetery (5th Street) and doesn't even show Tongue Creek Road, nor the new overpass.

It also doesn't show how far north Lake Hampton actually goes.

Observe an updated map of High River, with some annotations that I will explain.  I recommend clicking on it to read the annotations.

The Highwood normally flows underneath Tongue Creek Road at the new George Groeneveld Bridge.  The floodplain goes right up to those green lines, which is where 5th Avenue used to be before the overpass was built.  For every flood previous to this one, the old 5th Street berm prevented the water from coming back.  During the first day of the flood, this was still true.  However, once it got north past Tongue Creek Road, the water levels in this year's flood were beyond anything we'd ever seen, and the banks were over-run.

The water spilled out into farmer's fields north of the Tongue Creek Road, and continued filling up, almost all the way out to Cargill.  The only thing preventing it from flowing further east was Highway 2.  Tongue Creek Road dips a bit before rising to the new overpass, and that is where the water spilled back.  This is what the media meant when they said "the river had turned back on itself".

Between the new 5th Street and the new 20th Street Crossover, the land is low, and dips ultimately to just north of the Hamptons.  When the water came over Tongue Creek Road, the terrain was already perfectly designed to become a lake.  No developers had worked there yet, and so no blame can be laid on them for making the land too low.  This low-lying land was always there.  It was just that there had never been that much water before.

Observe the map below, circa 2002.  Holy Spirit Academy, the school that remained underwater for almost a month in this year's flood, hadn't even been built yet.  Neither had the Tongue Creek extension nor the new overpass.

5th Street was always there.  The river always ran north.  498th Avenue was always there.  Had we not built the extension to Tongue Creek Road, the area we now know as the Hamptons would still have become a lake. All those naysayers suggesting the new road caused all this are dead wrong.

Could we have seen this coming?  Considering Lake Hampton eventually covered approximately 15 square miles of land (approximately the same size as Sylvan Lake), I'd say no.

Did those berms affect the flow, and make the creation of Lake Hampton more likely?  Certainly a possibility.  Where that berm ended is where the breach of the banks occurred that ended up resulting in half of a town sitting underwater for 3 weeks.  I can't imagine that a berm is the best solution on its own anymore.

So what do we do instead of berms? I'll save that for the next post.

(For interest's sake, now that the Lake has been pumped out, some other lines of land have reappeared, particularly Tongue Creek Road, 20th Street, and a fenceline that once separated the Town of High River from the M.D. of the Foothills, somewhat north of the Hamptons.  These lines of land have now effectively cut Lake Hampton into 4 bodies of water, which I have labelled Lake Hampton 1, 2, 3 and 4 in my annotated map)