CEMA cites three new high-risk elements primarily based on a mid-2022 evaluation: civil disobedience, the pandemic and an Elbow River dam breach
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Town of Calgary is citing civil unrest as a possible catastrophe threat for town after years of protests round pandemic-based mandates and different social points.
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In its annual emergency preparedness standing replace trying again ultimately 12 months, the Calgary Emergency Administration Company cites three new high-risk elements primarily based on a mid-2022 evaluation: civil disobedience, the pandemic and an Elbow River dam breach.
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“The COVID-19 pandemic and quite a few circumstances of civil disobedience over the previous few years have led to a reassessment of their threat,” mentioned final 12 months’s catastrophe threat evaluation, performed in July 2022, including that the dam breach threat revalued because of the “financial influence of a possible worst-case situation occasion.”
The report displays the “altering nature of challenges and emergencies we face,” mentioned Coun. Kourtney Penner, chair of town’s emergency administration committee.
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“Threats and dangers are available in many varieties, together with environmental ones, with elevated challenges associated to local weather change,” Penner mentioned in an announcement to Postmedia on Sunday.
“Public habits, each native and international, has additionally demonstrated the necessity for complete preparation to keep away from reactionary responses.”
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Along with the 16 high-risk occasions – which embrace climate occasions, infrastructure failures and human-induced eventualities, together with hostage and mass casualty occasions – the catastrophe evaluation outlined one other 49 hazards with medium, low and really low dangers.
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Mitigation profitable in June rainstorm
Forecasts of heavy rainfall round southern Alberta final June put “tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}” price of property and important infrastructure in Calgary prone to flooding, prompting metropolis officers to declare a neighborhood state of emergency. However preventive mitigation efforts and proactive response have paid off in defending town and its residents, CEMA says.
“The mixed and mixed impacts of levee and dam mitigation measures make sure that Calgary is resilient to flood situations right now and able to adapt to new situations sooner or later,” the report mentioned.
Mitigation infrastructure and planning supplied town with a 55 % discount in flood threat, the report mentioned, and the under-construction, $576-million Springbank Reservoir will cut back flood threat from the Elbow River by 70 %.
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The report says town will probably be protected within the occasion of a one-in-200-year flood occasion, because it noticed within the 2013 floods, which brought on 5 deaths and $5 billion in insured harm throughout southern Alberta.
“Whereas early coordinated monitoring and preventive response measures helped cut back harm, long-term mitigation tasks performed a vital function,” the report mentioned. “The Metropolis and Authorities of Alberta’s investments in new flood mitigation infrastructure since 2013 have resulted in a flood harm discount of roughly $93 million every year.”
Give attention to excessive climate planning
Calgary had 32 days below an excessive warmth warning (known as when day by day highs are above 29 C and lows are larger than 14 C for greater than two days) and 12 days when temperatures had been chilly sufficient to concern an excessive chilly warning (issued when the temperature or wind chill drops under -40 for at the least two hours).
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These excessive climate occasions will probably be a planning focus for CEMA this 12 months. It says it plans to proceed to help town’s local weather resilience technique and work with town’s local weather crew all year long to additional advance local weather adaptation initiatives.
“We are going to proceed to work to combine local weather adaptation rules and projected modeling into current emergency administration methods and broader catastrophe threat discount targets,” the report mentioned.
The knowledge report will probably be offered to town’s emergency administration committee on Wednesday. Revisions to the municipal emergency plan are anticipated in 2023 to mirror organizational adjustments inside CEMA because of town’s current company realignment.
mrodriguez@postmedia.com
Twitter: @michaelrdrguez
