City pegs cost of its flood response at $2.28M

The City of Brandon is expecting flood-related work to cost $2.28 million, with just over two-thirds coming from the provincial government.

City council on Monday authorized that the projected total cost be taken out of four different reserves in order to pay for the work carried out during the past month.

“In order to action things quickly, you do have to acquire, in this case, a number of contractors to be able to complete that work,” city emergency co-ordinator Tobin Praznik said on Wednesday.

“Some were working 24 hours a day to be able to complete that work in anticipation of the flood. So costs incur quite quickly when it comes to these types of things.”

The work is specifically related to the overland flooding caused by high river levels, not the heavy downpour on June 29.

Heavy equipment, staff overtime and contractors working overnight all added to the cost during the time crunch.

The city issued a state of emergency on July 4 and the river peaked early on July 13.

Crews built several dikes, sent out evacuation notices and placed Tiger Dams and sandbags, among other things.

Projections shown on Monday indicate that water levels are expected to recede to within the Assiniboine River’s banks on Aug. 2, the same day the state of emergency is set to expire.

The city is expecting to recover $1.55 million — or 68 per cent of the cost — through the province’s disaster financial assistance program, with the rest of the cost absorbed by the municipality.

Praznik said once the city and province are better able to estimate the damage, they will have a more concrete figure and percentage of how much the city will receive back.

The city has been documenting all of the work it has done since flood response efforts started at the beginning of the month.

“Other things will be assessed by a third-party engineer contractor on behalf of the province that would come and actually review all these areas to deem whether these sites would be eligible for recovery efforts,” Praznik said. “So, it is a lengthy process that we have to go through.

“Based on early conversations on the actions we’ve taken, we’re fairly confident that it should meet the criteria and should be eligible for recovery,” he added.

Crews have plenty of cleanup work to do, including removing the dike on Grand Valley Road.

Engineering services director Kyle Winters on Monday told council that crews hope the road, also known as Highway 459, will be reopened within two weeks.

Other dike work from this month — including at the Canada Packers Sports Complex, Riverbank Discovery Centre and at the Wheat City Golf Course — will be left in place for future use, though crews will do some landscaping.

Winters told council that the dike work at the sports complex wouldn’t actually have been needed, in hindsight.

He said water levels rose about a foot and a half lower than projected.

“We’re fortunate the forecasting was a little bit off and we received less water, but nonetheless the material is there and it will be there for the future in the event we do get a larger flood,” Winters said.

Mayor Jeff Fawcett during the meeting said the city will continue to have discussions with the Manitoba government and officials in Saskatchewan on other ways flooding can be mitigated.

“We’re in a valley. This is where it’s coming,” he said.

Other cleanup work, he added, will be prioritized based on how people use certain areas. Landscape work for the sports complex likely won’t be done until the spring, as it doesn’t affect the playing field and there are other priorities.

“It’s just an aesthetic — ugliness for a little bit. We’ll clean that up after,” Fawcett said.

He also thanked the community for respecting the process and allowing crews to complete their work.

“For those that live in the immediate area on both sides of that river, we appreciate the seriousness that you approach this with,” he said.

“You were ready, you paid attention and we are grateful for that.”

He also advised people to continue to stay away from areas near the river and parks that are or had been flooded, as they might not be safe yet.

Fawcett also said that this is a perfect example of why having reserves in place is important.

» alambert@brandonsun.com