‘Devastation on all fronts’: For Canada’s oil town, severe flood just one in a series of disasters – Goderich Signal Star

CALGARY Severe flooding on the Athabasca River has submerged much of downtown Fort McMurray, a key city near Canadas largest oil facilities, exacerbating economic hardship in a region already reeling from natural and economic disasters.

Our community has seen devastation on all fronts, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo councillor Keith McGrath said, referring to the 2016 fire that ripped through Fort McMurray and burned over 3,000 of houses and businesses, followed by persistently low oil prices that devastated the regions economy.

McGrath said an ice jam has caused the Athabasca River to flood past levels seen in the 1970s and is damaging businesses and homes that had been rebuilt after the fire.

People had just come out of the rebuild and now they see their house is flooded, so the mood is pretty sombre, McGrath said. Its a travesty.

Residents in the area say ice on the river began to break amid warmer weather, allowing water to begin flowing on Sunday, an event that community members in Fort McMurray and downriver in Fort McKay gather to watch every year.

But as the ice began flowing down river, it formed a 24-kilometre long blockade called an ice jam, which impedes the flow of water downstream and causes water levels to rise.

Chunks of river ice beneath bridges crossing the Athabasca River in Fort McMurray on Sunday, April 26, 2020.Vincent McDermott/Fort McMurray Today/Postmedia Network

The municipality issued a series of community updates as the situation worsened Sunday night and Monday morning. Voluntary evacuation notices turned into mandatory orders in a matter of hours and those orders spread to more and more neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray overnight Sunday.

At 1 a.m. on Monday morning, Alberta Health Services directed the municipality to issue a boil water advisory for parts of the area.

The Athabasca River is currently breaking and water levels are extremely high, the municipality said in one mandatory evacuation order. Residents in flood-prone areas should prepare a 72-hour emergency kit and stay alert.

The order advised residents to check in at the evacuee registration centre and continue practicing physical distancing while evacuating.

The region is currently dealing with two states of emergency, McGrath said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic that has kept people in their homes and now the flood, which forced the evacuation of downtown Fort McMurray.

McGrath said that 2,000 people are currently signed up to stay in the municipalitys emergency evacuation centre.

Nearby oilsands producers Suncor Energy Inc. and Syncrude Canada Ltd. have offered specialized pumps to help remove water out of the municipalitys flooded downtown core.

A sign from the municipality warning people about the breakup of the Clearwater and Athabasca Rivers on Sunday, April 26, 2020.Vincent McDermott/FortMcMurray Today/Postmedia Network

McGrath said he expects additional help from the province and federal governments and the municipality, which is the local government for multiple communities in a broader region, is working to open more centres for evacuees and people affected by the flood.

One man, travelling through the citys downtown in a boat, posted a video on social media Monday morning that showed just the tops of cars and upper halves of trucks sticking out of the water like icebergs as much of downtown is submerged.

Every time we feel like were getting ahead, we get knocked down again, said Ron Quintal, president of the Fort McKay Mtis Nation, adding that the string of natural and economic disasters is testing our resolve.

Mercifully, Quintal said, the deluge that has submerged parts of Fort McMurray isnt yet affecting communities downstream along the Athabasca River.

Our ancestors were pretty smart. Were fortunate they built Fort McKay on a pretty high hill, Quintal said.

But the situation in Fort McMurray will have a ripple effect on communities down the river that rely on stores in Fort McMurray for supplies, said Jim Boucher, former long-time chief of the Fort McKay First Nation and a long-time resident of Fort McKay.

Every time we feel like were getting ahead, we get knocked down again

Ron Quintal

Were certainly tied to Fort McMurray for our resources, Boucher said, speaking from his house in Fort McKay overlooking the Athabasca River. His house, he said, is still about 30 feet above the water.

The last time he can remember the river had flooded to this extent was in the 1970s. At that time, he said, the flooding lasted roughly a week. He hoped the water subsides in a few days.

Fort McKay is a Indigenous community in the heart of the oilsands region, with major oilsands mines to the north and south of the town along the river. Suncor, Syncrude and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. all have operations that dot the landscape on either side of the river.

The flooding in the Fort McMurray region has affected certain bus routes, however, there is no impact on operations at this time, Canadian Natural spokesperson Julie Woo said in an email.

Suncor spokesperson Erin Rees said the company was monitoring the flooding but has not experienced any flooding at this point. She said Suncor was working to enable employees to volunteer to help with the recovery effort.

Pipelines run at the McKay River Suncor oil sands in-situ operations near Fort McMurray, Alberta.Todd Korol/Reuters files

The region is incredibly important to Albertas economy as its a major source of employment and the centre of most of oil output in Canadas biggest oil-producing province, which is already anticipating a deep recession as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the collapse in global oil prices.

Unemployment in the Municipality of Wood Buffalo, stood at 11.2 per cent in March, above the provincial average of 8.7 per cent and the national average of 7.8 per cent, Statistics Canada data shows.

On Monday, the Western Canada Select benchmark price for heavy oil produced in Alberta fell almost 24 per cent to US$6.32 per barrel.

Theres no way to sugar-coat it: the recession brought on by COVID-19 and the oil glut will be the worst downturn in Alberta since the 1930s, ATB Financial chief economist Todd Hirsch wrote in a report published late last week.

However, he said, governments are responding more quickly to the current recession. The Alberta government is expected to announce plans to relaunch the provinces economy later this week.

The economic pain has been deep and sudden, and the recovery will not be as V-shaped as wed like, but the downturn will pass much sooner than it did in the 1930s, he wrote.

Financial Post

Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter:

Go here to read the rest:
'Devastation on all fronts': For Canada's oil town, severe flood just one in a series of disasters - Goderich Signal Star