When Ron Sweetman saw the devastation to the playgrounds at the Calgary Zoo from the June floods up close for the first time last month, he said it was an awful sight to behold.
“The whole thing is quite shocking really.”
Sweetman is the president of the Olds-based The Playground Guys, a company that builds playgrounds and distributes playground equipment.
In mid-August, the zoo's insurance adjustor contacted the company, Sweetman said, about refurbishing the zoo's Co-op Kid Zone and Kinsmen playgrounds, which were devastated when floodwaters inundated the zoo at the end of June.
When crews including hired labourers from the Olds area arrived at the zoo on Sept. 23, they began the task of replacing all the equipment in the two playgrounds that had been submerged under two metres of water.
Sweetman said there was “six inches of silt throughout the entire area.”
Everything from protective foam to decks to panels and slides had to be torn out and replaced because they were either filled with water or contaminated from the flooding, Sweetman said.
All around them, he added, buildings were being demolished, repaired or rebuilt.
Repair work on the Kinsmen park has already been completed, he said, and he was hoping to wrap up repairs on the Kid Zone park this week.
Sweetman said restoring the playgrounds at the zoo has been one of the most unique jobs he has ever undertaken since the company was launched 30 years ago.
“It's the only one that we've worked on where we've been replacing equipment,” he said. “Normally, we put in playground equipment. We've done four in town this year and the fifth one is going in for this weekend (October 5 and 6).”
The entire project is expected to cost $90,000.
The overall cost of repairing the zoo is estimated at $50 million.
A spokeswoman for the zoo said one-third of the facility was underwater during the flooding and the restoration effort is massive.
“There are a number of animal enclosures (in the) back-of-house area where their buildings had to be stripped of the inside material and replaced, which are near completion,” said Trish Exton-Parder. “All of our banquet spaces are under reconstruction of replacing all interior material from the eight-foot mark and down. The interior walls are going back in and flooring is currently being installed. Kitchen equipment has to be ordered and is due to arrive any day now. Demolition of three buildings that have damage beyond repair are currently being demolished.”
Overall, three companies and 15 subcontractors are working on the restoration effort.
Exton-Parder said the zoo expects to reopen Dec. 1.
