Drumheller provided a hopeful ending to a tough day for Federal Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews as he toured areas of Alberta devastated by floodwaters.
Minister Toews met with MP Kevin Sorenson, Mayor Terry Yemen, Drumheller Fire Chief Bachynski, RCMP Corporal Kevin Charles, CAO Ray Romanetz and Drumheller-Stettler MLA Rick Strankman. This was the minister’s final destination after visiting some of the hardest hit areas in the province, and it provided him with a positive outlook after learning how Drumheller managed its high water event.
“This was a very positive ending to the day. We have seen what happened in High River, Siksika and in Calgary,” Toews told inSide Drumheller. “I was expecting to see the same sort of thing here in Drumheller. We know a few homes have been destroyed and these are very serious things, but we knew it wasn’t as significant.”
He learned why the damage wasn’t quite as significant.
CAO Romanetz and Mayor Yemen walked Minister Toews through the flooding in 2005 and the successes and failures of the town’s mitigation of the impact of the rushing water.
Following the flood of 2005, the Town of Drumheller began lobbying the provincial government to assist in building permanent dykes in Midland and in Newcastle. Romanetz explained they were successful without having to use political channels.
These dykes were crucial for Drumheller to make it through the events of the last few days.
“It was a great presentation, because it fits exactly into what I have been saying since I have been involved in flood issues, which is basically my entire political career,” Toews said. “That is how flood mitigation can make a difference in the amount of tax payer money spent. Not only does it improve safety, rather than rebuilding the same damaged property every year, you take certain preventive steps one time. The entire property will be secure for many years.”
Romanetz demonstrated how a levee in East Coulee erected in the 1980s has helped, and he demonstrated the need for another like-project in the Rosedale area.
The federal government has a Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement with the province and territorial government to help citizens through disasters. It has been in place since the 1970s and in that time, has paid out nearly $2 billion in assistance.
The Federal Department of Public Safety has been a part of designing a National Disaster Mitigation Strategy, and the measures Drumheller took to plan for overland flooding is the type of leadership needed to build efficiency and safety.
“The Deputy Ministers will be coming back with a report on mitigation in the next little while. That will be brought to the ministers and we will discuss how cost is to be shared
(between various levels of government) and look at the recommendations,” said Toews. “The point is, you don’t have to go through this emergency type of situation with temporary dyking and earthworks, if it is done and you can anticipate what is going to happen and feel fairly secure.”
“It’s been successful in other jurisdictions where we have done that on a pilot project basis, so I was very pleased the Prime Minister gave me the green light to negotiate with the provinces on a national basis to become part of our disaster financial assistance arrangement.”
