Rescue in Calgary’s Confederation Park prompts concerns about flood mitigation work – Calgary | 24CA News

Pat McCulloch enjoys her each day walks by Confederation Park in northwest Calgary, however final Thursday’s downpour was not a pleasing expertise.

“At the duck pond, I have never seen it flooded like that before. It was treacherous to walk over this bridge. It’s never been like that,” McCulloch stated.

She was on the identical place the place a person who was utilizing a motorized wheelchair acquired caught within the mud on Thursday. He had a telephone with him and he stored it above water and referred to as 911. By the time firefighters may get to him, he was in chest-deep water.

“I was stunned. That was such a close call.  Thank God that man had the presence of mind to call 9-1-1 but to be trapped in his wheelchair and awaiting rescue … We dodged a bullet there,” stated Simone Lee, president of the Friends of Confederation Creek Association.

She says the park is designed to carry again stormwater and launch it slowly by the system right down to Nose Creek. Consequently, when there’s average rain, it floods.

“I have to say that this last event was only a two-hour rainstorm and the flooding was more severe than what we’ve seen before,” Lee stated.

The metropolis is putting in a particles display throughout Confederation Creek to mitigate the flooding that had been occurring within the final a number of many years as a result of clogging of particles on the downstream outfall.

The space can be flooded for a protracted time period as a result of metropolis crews couldn’t safely get below the water to take away the particles.

The metropolis says this was a critical public security subject.

A metropolis spokesperson says the display will assist to stop particles corresponding to fallen branches, leaves, sediment and trash from blocking the move of water utterly by the outfall which can in flip assist recede the water and scale back flood length.

The metropolis says the venture additionally gives secure entry to take away particles capturing nets with a crane truck decreasing important guide labor.

Lee says the display is doing its job but it surely was utterly overwhelmed by this previous storm occasion.  She says the reply is to open up extra of the creek.

The creek and dozens of tributaries move below a lot of northwest Calgary however they’ve been paved over.

Friends of Confederation Creek Association has been pushing the federal government to acknowledge the creek as very important to Calgary’s groundwater and to sunlight it. That’s a course of that returns water that has been diverted beneath floor.

The creek flows below Queen’s Park Cemetery. Some park customers had been hopeful after they seen metropolis crews begin working on the baseball diamond close to the cemetery not too long ago pondering it’d contain daylighting the creek, however the metropolis says they’re upgrading the irrigation system and including a consuming fountain.

“Wouldn’t that be beautiful through the cemetery? Wouldn’t it be beautiful if this baseball diamond is allowed to be a marsh and be overwhelmed with water from time to time?” Lee stated

In the meantime, volunteers with Friends of Confederation Creek are distributing maps displaying simply how a lot water is flowing beneath our toes and to think about the probabilities in the event that they had been introduced again to the sunshine of day.

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