A multi-stakeholder committee trying to address flooding concerns on the Red Deer River from west of Sundre to Gleniffer Lake has gathered more than 200 letters from area residents and is now waiting to hear when committee members can deliver the letters in person to Premier Alison Redford, says chairman Myron Thompson.For the past several months the Sundre-based Red Deer Quality Control Committee has been collecting personal letters from individuals expressing concern with the flooding dangers and calling on the provincial government to move forward with flood protection work and plans.The committee held a full-day open house at the Sundre West Country Centre on Nov. 3 to help people write letters and to share information about flooding concerns. Thompson, a former MP and current Sundre town councillor, hosted the meeting.“We achieved a few more letters and that's the main thing,” said Thompson. “We are putting them all together and we are getting ready to go to Edmonton. I happen to know that petitions don't ring the bells of politicians but personal, individual letters do.“We want to give her those letters face to face and see if we can encourage the government to take the initiative. We want them to look very closely at what can be done with this river to help our situation.”The letters have been handwritten or typed, expressing the writer's personal thoughts and concerns about the flooding danger, he said.The committee plans to make a trip to Edmonton to personally hand the letters to Premier Alison Redford and to voice flooding concerns to her, he said.Sundre-area Wildrose MLA Joe Anglin is working on arranging the meeting with Redford.“He is arranging for us to meet her and Danielle Smith (Wildrose Opposition leader) when we go up there. We are waiting to go up there. I know it takes time to arrange these things.”The committee would like to head up to Edmonton before Dec. 1 if possible, he said.A date for the meeting had not been set at press time. Once a date is set the committee will decide whether to rent a van or bus to take committee members and others to Edmonton, he said.Thompson says flood protection work – such as building berms and the clearing away of debris – is necessary to prevent future flooding.“We are trying to encourage the province to do its job,” he said. “It's about preventing a major disaster heading our way. The next big flood will be a major disaster and we have to stop it. It's called taking preventative measures.“If you can tell me when the next big flood is, I will tell you when they need to act. If it's next year, they better act now. We'd like to see them get at it before the spring runoff. They need to do something.”During the Nov. 3 meeting a number of residents from the Garrington area north of Sundre attended the meeting and expressed concerns that debris in the river could threaten the Garrington Bridge in a flooding event.“They say it's getting extremely dangerous that that bridge could be taken out,” he said. “With all the debris that's in there, if there was a big flood and it picked that up, it would not be good for the bridge.“I'm not going to say that it would take it out, but it sure doesn't look good to me.”The committee believes the construction of a dam upstream of Sundre could be a long-term solution to flooding dangers, he said.Flooding of the river upstream of Sundre in the spring caused damage to private and public land in the McDougal Flats area.Mountain View County has been looking at possible flood protection options.
