Every day, thousands of operational services employees ensure the essential services Calgarians rely on are available, rain or shine. Our community has experienced times of adversity over the past decade, in extreme conditions they have maintained and restored critical infrastructure, utilities, transit, roadways, pathways, transportation networks and made sure public parks and spaces were clean, accessible and safe. 

This webpage pays tribute to the work of our operational frontline teams. We are proud to share their accomplishments and extend our deepest thanks to them for being there for our community, in the good times and the bad.  

A state of local emergency was declared on June 20, 2013 and remained in effect until July 4, 2013 due to flooding along the Bow and Elbow Rivers. More than 80,000 Calgarians in 32 communities were evacuated. The downtown core was flooded, closed to traffic and without power. Old City Hall, the Municipal Building, Stampede Grounds and the Calgary Zoo suffered massive damage.

Employees working in what is now known as The City’s Operational Services department, played a significant role in flood response, repair and recovery. Among the highlights:

• Safe, high quality drinking water for all Calgarians was maintained during and after the flood.
• Calgary Transit sent 344 buses to help evacuees, seniors in care facilities and volunteers get to emergency reception centres.
• The management of the Glenmore Dam helped significantly reduce damage by managing flows on the Elbow River.
• Riverbank stabilization efforts at various locations during the flood response helped minimize damage to critical infrastructure and private property.
• 95% of requests for residential pumping were completed in first seven days.
• Landfill hours were extended to accommodate waste disposal. The landfills received over 30,000 tonnes of flood waste to the end of June – equivalent to the amount of construction and demolition waste normally received in five months.
• Landfill fees were waived for customers with flood-related waste.
• Transportation staff provided construction material, inspected and repaired damaged infrastructure such as LRT tracks, roadways, bridges and facilities - reopening 150 km of roads and restoring service for bus and C-Train routes.
• Thirty flooded parks, playgrounds and destroyed river pathways were rebuilt, cleaned and repaired.
• Important Calgary events, such as the Calgary Stampede and the Calgary Folk Music Festival, were able to continue shortly after the flood due to the repair and clean up efforts of many employees and volunteers.