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EDMONTON — Despite severe weather in 2026, Alberta’s flood resilience projects have protected Albertans from river flooding and reduced flood impacts, the government states.

With multiple heavy rainfall events, including historic rainfall in some areas, and a challenging spring breakup of ice cover on northern rivers, Alberta’s multi-level flood mitigation strategy has helped prevent serious damage to homes, businesses and critical infrastructure, explains a release, adding this has been carried out through the $125-million Drought and Flood Protection Program launched in 2024.

“Since the 2013 southern Alberta floods, Alberta’s government, local emergency managers and Albertans now have better tools and information to deal with rising water levels and flooding,” it reads. “There is also more storage available to reduce peak flows and strategically placed flood barriers to protect vulnerable areas.”

In Calgary, the Springbank Off-stream Reservoir was used for the first time to divert high flows from the Elbow River upstream of the city. Updated flood maps now show a significantly reduced flood risk along the Elbow River as a result of Springbank and other mitigation projects.

On the Bow River, the Ghost Reservoir was also used several times to reduce river flows through Calgary.

In Canmore, the Cougar Creek Dam, a mountain debris flood retention structure supported by about $46 million in provincial funding, captured debris and excess water, reducing the force of high flows.

Debris mitigation structures on nearby Exshaw Creek, Heart Creek and Jura Creek were also activated.

In Fort McMurray, recently updated flood mapping, including specific mapping for ice jams, helped inform the response to a challenging spring breakup on the Athabasca and Clearwater rivers, the release notes.

The $661,000 investment in flood mapping helped the community better prepare for and respond to this year’s ice jam, which, under similar water levels in 1997, caused severe flooding.

Currently, 850 kilometres of flood mapping is underway as Alberta works toward its goal of 3,000 kilometres of new or updated mapping by 2028.

In addition, several projects are in the design or �鶹��ýӳ�� stage, including:

• $34.3 million for the Horsefly spillway in the Municipal District of Taber
• $5.25 million for flood protection for the Rossdale and E.L. Smith water treatment plants in Edmonton
• $2.87 million to address overland flooding in Sexsmith
• $3.25 million for the wastewater treatment plant flood protection project in Medicine Hat
• $4.07 million for the Stafford Lake stormwater infrastructure and monitoring implementation in Brooks.