Residents in the worst hit area of Exshaw have finally begun pumping out their basements and clearing away thick mud left from the June flood event.
Vacuum trucks have been draining basements of water and possibly sewage along Pigeon Mountain Drive and Mount McGillivray Drive this week and heavy equipment is removing the thick, dried silt a month after water at least waist deep drowned both streets.
“We are making progress finally in the hardest hit areas of Pigeon and McGillivray,” MD Bighorn Reeve Dene Cooper said Tuesday (July 16). “We have a fair distance to go, but I can say progress is being made, especially on McGillivray. The problem is the hardest hit areas are not only the last areas you can get into, but also require the most extensive repairs.
“My hope is we can stay focused on Pigeon and McGillivray so we can get them into a better position and then go back and do some of the other parts that are just as necessary but are not as urgent a priority.”
The Ministerial Flood Recovery Task Force, along with Banff-Cochrane MLA Ron Casey and Associate Minister for Recovery and Reconstruction of Southwest Alberta Kyle Fawcett toured Exshaw Monday and Cooper said they were shocked at the amount of damage experienced.
“It is intense. It isn’t the number of houses per se, but when you consider we only have 200 houses…”
Of those houses, 50 are untouched and 100 sustained light to moderate damage and were the easiest to reach and are now showing “great progress,” Cooper said.
“There’s another 50 that are really badly damaged to the point of severe damage and they may not ever be lived in again; 27 in the last two blocks,” he said.
A high water table is slowing efforts to pump out basements of at least three houses.
Sue Arlidge, whose bungalow on Pigeon Mountain Drive is one of the Exshaw homes slated for demolition, said Monday she moved to Exshaw 15 years ago for the trees, the light and the small town feel.
Despite challenges with removing the contaminated muck, insurers, gaps in communication and the stress and heartache of having to demolish her home, Arlidge said the flood has brought out the best in her community.
“What happened after this flood is there were so many butterflies everywhere because butterflies love the mud. And is there a better symbol of a biblical flood than butterflies?” she said. “One of the cool things is that Exshaw will transform despite the adversity. The neighbours, four weeks tomorrow, we’re still dealing with the big issues and generally speaking there is an air of optimism. My husband, even right during the flood, he turns to the camera and says, ‘I’m getting a new house.’”
The flood has shown her that the community is resilient and supportive.
“It forced our hand and caused us to hang out with our neighbours and get to know them. There’s strength in people we never knew about.”
She’s also surprised and touched by the response Exshaw has received by the wider community with volunteers arriving from as far away as the southern U.S.
Josephine Dick, volunteer co-ordinator for the MD, said 10 to 15 volunteers are assisting flood recovery efforts in Exshaw every day.
“The broader community has been amazing,” Arlidge said. “A smoothie fairy shows up with fresh smoothies while we’re working. A lady in town got in touch with a shop in Canmore and literally dressed me nicer than I’ve ever been dressed in my life,” she said.
Others have been arriving with gift cards, food, recreation passes, laptops and offers of accommodation and vehicles. A campaign on the website indiegogo.com to raise $20,000 to help Exshaw residents has already hit $6,600 with 38 days to go before the campaign ends.
“One of the first things people did was to loan us vehicles, and when I got my friend’s Jeep from Calgary I turned it on and the Beatles ‘I get by with a little help from my friends’ was playing. That was awesome man! I needed that so bad!”
Even though Arlidge is juggling family, work and the need to find long-term housing, she’s working to help her neighbours in their long-term recovery.
She’s using her contacts and networking skills to establish an Exshaw recovery fund.
Arlidge intends to raise $2 million, managed by a foundation she is currently putting together, to help Exshaw residents rebuild their homes and their lives.
“We know there is going to be shortfall,” she said. “We just want to get money into people’s pockets so they can get on with their lives with no strings attached.”
The Provincial inventory of items eligible for financial subsidy, for example, doesn’t include solar panels and only includes $200 for a bed.
“I’ve never been able to find a bed and bedding for $200,” she said. “I understand that (the Province) can’t pay for everything, but I also know that is not going to put people back into the life they had.”
Along with the financial burden Exshaw residents face, Councillor Paul Ryan said residents still have many concerns about their homes and their community.
Ryan said his goal, along with passing out safety equipment, food and water to volunteers, is to pass on as much information as possible.
“People are dealing with stress, damage to their homes, fatigue and people are easily frustrated. I’m out there every day, all day, with these guys. I try to address their concerns as best I can with the information I have,” he said.
But information is not always readily available and often confused by the two, sometimes three levels of government, involved in disaster recovery.
“The Province is new at this as well, so getting detailed information as to what the Province supports and doesn’t support is difficult,” Ryan said.
“We’re trying to get information as fast as we can and trickle it down to the people who need it. As fast as I get the information, I pass it on to them, but it is difficult to get the information. We spend a lot of time asking questions and trying to get answers and we don’t get good answers. That adds to people’s frustrations and I share their frustration.”
Clarity, however, is beginning to come as the various levels of government firm up recovery plans and programs and an information meeting was held Wednesday (July 17) evening for residents.
The goal, Ryan said, is to put together a “firm plan” that allows residents to have expectations as what will happen and when.
“We’re hoping to bring out as much information tomorrow night as we can. The Province has assured us they are going to get some very clear answers for us and get rid of some of the ambiguity. This is a first for them too,” Ryan said.
“For some people, it is not fast enough and I totally empathize with them. While I may have suffered some minor damage, they have had major damage and a very legitimate reason to be concerned and I share their concerns.”
“We will be giving (residents) some solid plans on how we are moving forward with the cleanup of silt on their properties. We made great progress over the weekend and we intend to continue with that to try and get it as close as we can to what it was before.”
