Cleanup begins at Christ the King Assembly church in the River Flats in this June 27, 2013 file photo.--NEWS file PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Near record flooding 10 years ago brought exhaustion, uncertainty and major damage to homeowners, but also a new sense of community among the anxiousness.
It also brought new motivation on city council to work on a “permanent solution” for flooding that hit low-laying areas hard in 2013, not two decades after another “flood of the century” in 1995.
Harlow, Riverside and the Flats were hardest hit when temporary berms built in the lead-up were breached, or water found its way through the storm sewer network and up street grates on the weekend of June 23, 2013.
Medicine Hat declared a state of emergency the Friday before, delivered thousands of evacuation notices and cut off utilities in the neighbourhoods. Sewage pumping stations were shut down, their engines removed to higher ground.
Residents were told to move valuable items to attics, or out of the potential flood zone entirely, and stay with friends or relatives, or at a provincial shelter at Medicine Hat College.
They became a no-go zone under police order, until days after the river began receding on June 24, and residents were allowed back in staggered tours and re-inspection by emergency officials.
They found foot-deep mud on lawns, flooded basements and water damage everywhere.
And so began the rebuilding process.
Sherry Jean had moved to Dominion Street several years before the flooding, and returned to find her lot, generally higher than the rest of the block, was one of only a few on the block not severely damaged.
Those who didn’t see overland damage mostly had sewer backup. Dotted through the Flats were caved-in basement and foundation walls.
“Everyone pitched in,” Jean told the News on Friday.
Her patio became a gathering spot for neighbours working away, hauling sodden carpets, mud-soaked possessions and building materials to dumpsters placed by the city at the end of each block in hot, humid conditions on Canada Day weekend and then into July.
“We have a very tight knit community down here,” said Jean. “People would drive down the street offering water or sandwiches. We have a very caring city.”
Almost no one was unaffected, and when one home was finished, they’d join their neighbours on the next.
But, with homes still damaged and repairs underway, many on the block continued to stay with relatives overnight.
“It became very eerie at night,” she said. “But we came back. People who live here love it.”
After waiting for a week to survey the damage of their homes, the pace quickened and lasted in some cases for years before buildings were restored, claims were paid, or residents took up a city-provincial offer of selling to move on.
The badly damage Mackenzie-Sharland Grocery across the street from Jean’s home on Dominion became the site of a press conference for then premier Alison Redford touring the disaster zone. Eventually the site was restored as the centre-piece of a new condo development on the block, Mackenzie Mews.
The city’s Veiner Centre was badly damaged to the foundation and was eventually rebuilt six years later.
That came after a major berming program from the city that rose flood protections in most river-adjacent communities, including Harlow and Riverside.
One site connects a massive initial berm in Lions Park to Industrial Avenue, and sits just beyond Chinook Greenhouses on London Avenue.
“It’s a level of comfort knowing it’s there,” said Milt Pancoast, the now retired former owner of Chinook Greenhouses. He had hoped to expand his operation onto the land, but eventually sold it to the city for berm construction.
“For safety … the city needed it more than we needed another greenhouse.”
He lent his shop’s forklift and hands to build a temporary flood wall closer to homes nearer to the river.
“Every flood we’ve been OK,” said Pancoast on Friday. “We’re very fortunate, but other places around, not so fortunate.”
As a high spot in the area between residential and Industrial Avenue, his buildings and nearby home were spared water damage, but neighbours and other businesses were hit hard.
As a high spot in the area between residential and Industrial Avenue, his buildings and nearby home were spared water damage, but neighbours and other businesses were hit hard.
“It was a horrible week,” said Kim Pancoast, a resident of London Avenue and Milt’s sister-in-law. “But you think about what was happening in High River (at the time). That was a disaster.”
In the town south of Calgary flood waters from an unusually concentrated storm system arrived largely without warning. Danielle Smith, then MLA for the area, was famously evacuated in a manure spreader that went up and down residential streets.
In total the widespread flooding caused an estimated $5 billion in damage across the province and five deaths.
Locally, no fatalities or major injuries were reported. About 500 homes were considered badly damaged. The damage to city infrastructure alone in Medicine Hat was $40 million, with no estimate for private property.
