(1) What was Known Before the Floods:

Some excerpts from an article titled: Alberta should have heeded flood report: experts

An expert says devastation could have been reduced in southern Alberta if the government had followed its own report on how to lessen the effects of severe flooding.The report was completed by a government task force in 2006 in the wake of a flood the previous year that killed three people and caused $400 million in damage in many of the same communities hit by high water in recent days

.“In my opinion, if this report had been implemented, I sincerely believe that the damage we are seeing right now could have been reduced,” Paul Kovacs, executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, said Monday from Toronto.“I thought this report did a really good job covering the right topics and offering very specific advice on what should be done.”

The report called for extensive mapping of flood risk areas and said 36 communities required flood risk assessments. It also called on the government to stop selling Crown land in flood-prone areas and to prohibit disaster recovery payments for new, inappropriate developments in flood risk zones. Seven years later, it’s not clear how many of the report’s 18 recommendations have been put in place.

The full report, issued in 2006, is here.  Thanks to Chris Jones for providing the link. (No longer available. Updated version, June 2013,  and 2006 Status Update.)

(2) What Now Needs To Be Determined:

Alberta Floods Have Changed The Rockies Forever, Says Scientist

The Diva wants to thank her friends and colleagues in Canada for sending her these news articles.

Related articles

• Alberta flood report did not sink in (castanet.net)
• Alberta flooding could wipe $2-billion from Canadian economy in June (business.financialpost.com)
• Alberta’s flood worse than flood of 2005 (globalnews.ca)
• Alberta Government Failed to Act on Earlier Flood Report