Building after flooding provides opportunity

Out of destruction can come renewed hope and a brighter future, says Vivian Manasc of Manasc Isaac Architects, whose firm was “instrumental “ in helping rebuild Slave Lake after the devastating fire in 2011.

“In addition to most of the homes in the southern Alberta floods being unliveable, the community health care facilities and schools were damaged and need to be repaired and that affects everybody,” said Manasc.

In June, flood waters forced the evacuation of close to 2,000 members of southern First Nations, with Siksika Nation and Stoney Nakoda Nations hardest hit.  Many of those evacuated are now living in temporary accommodations, camping in designated areas or staying with family and friends.

Health issues often develop with flooding.

“Mould grows quickly, especially in the summertime, and the damage to buildings goes far beyond the initial flood. It’s imperative that repairing and rebuilding begin soon,” said Manasc. Creating a “tricky trade-off between safety and remedial actions,” were the restrictions enforced on returning to the flooded buildings.

People recognized that mould and mildew would further destroy the structures and yet they were not allowed to get into them to get started on pumping out the water and beginning reconstruction.

Manasc Isaac has offices in both Calgary and Edmonton and has experienced rebuilds in many post-recovery projects.

“Our focus has always been on designing sustainable buildings and we also need to have buildings that are resilient and are climate-adaptable,” she said. “We need to design buildings that are much more robust, more durable, and much more able to adapt to climate change, and that’s one of the challenges for First Nations communities because the buildings up to now haven’t been very durable.”

Looking towards the future possibility of another flood, buildings can be constructed on higher ground.

“Unfortunately, a lot of reserve land is quite low so that’s not always possible. But people can do more water-proofing on their basements, install more sump pumps, and invest in more back-up generators because power often gets cut off at the time of a flood,” she said. “The important part is to look at it in an integrated way, so that the solutions are not just a band-aid but a solution for the whole community. When there is a flood the water needs to be channelled correctly to escape and the roofs designed to absorb the water and that’s where architects can help out, by looking at the bigger picture and how it all fits together.”

Manasc says First Nations need to form a plan that will benefit everyone.

“Identify the priorities and engage good engineers and architects who can help to guide that conversation right at the beginning. It’s a good time to reinvent the whole community and make it a better place to live than it was before,” said Manasc.