Bragg Creek residents still haunted by 2013 flood despite new defences

As heavy rain swept through the region this week, Bragg Creek residents found themselves checking water levels again — a routine born from the trauma of the 2013 flood that devastated the southwest hamlet.

Thanks to more than $40 million in flood mitigation infrastructure completed since then, Bragg Creek avoided any risk of flooding this time. New berms and flood walls installed along the creek's banks have considerably reduced the danger. But the psychological weight of that history remains.

Kathleen Burk, a longtime Bragg Creek resident and local realtor, said she couldn't help but walk down to the creek regularly in recent days to check the water. "When it gets to that dark, murky colour and it's raining, it certainly brings back memories of the flood," she said.

In June 2013, Bragg Creek was among the hardest-hit communities. More than 300 homes were damaged, and over 1,100 residents were evacuated. Burk's own home was completely flooded, with water filling the basement.

She invested in a new sump pump afterward and said the defensive measures have helped reduce "flood PTSD" — but they haven't erased it. "Once you flood, if you have the proper measures in place to not allow it to happen again, and if you know how to self-mitigate and know how to be aware, then you can have a little more control and I think the fear isn't as acute," she said.

Contending with flood risk is simply part of life in Bragg Creek for residents who choose to stay. Burk said most families accept the gamble in exchange for the lifestyle the hamlet offers. "Sometimes you have to be OK with the potential high waters here in order to enjoy that we live in nature," she said. "You have to surrender to the fact that nature will eventually overpower us."

Thirteen years of safety have helped, but the creek's power is never far from residents' minds.