City hiring consultant to plan for cleanup after future weather disasters

When the next disaster hits, the City of Winnipeg hopes to have a detailed plan in place to clean it up.

The city is seeking a consultant to create a disaster debris management plan, noting the risk of such disruptions is increasing.

“Winnipeg is known for extreme weather conditions, including winter storms and spring floods. Climate change is anticipated to intensify these conditions and frequency of events,” a request for proposals states.

The document notes hazards such as tornadoes, floods, storms and fires can damage trees, buildings, infrastructure and homes, while producing a large amount of debris.

Michael Gordichuk, the city’s manager of solid waste services, said forest fires and floods have affected many Manitoba communities in recent years, underlining the need for the plan.

“It basically provides a clearer… framework for us how to sort, collect, store and dispose of that debris. It speeds up the decision-making process, reduces confusion and ensures the right resources are mobilized quickly. And it helps us protect central assets, like our garbage and recycling collection, from being disrupted,” said Gordichuk.

While the city has been spared from major debris cleanups in the last few years, Gordichuk said an October 2019 storm that dumped up to 35 cm of snow on the city is an example of the type of disaster the new plan would help the city handle.

That storm knocked out power for 50,000 Winnipeggers, damaged 30,000 public trees and led the city to declare a local state of emergency.

Gordichuk said the initial storm cleanup cost about $8 million and the city’s forestry branch was quickly overwhelmed. Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary and Toronto sent in staff and equipment to help address the damage.

“Winnipeg is known for extreme weather conditions, including winter storms and spring floods. Climate change is anticipated to intensify these conditions and frequency of events.”

“We basically had crews coming in from all over Canada to help us dig out from the mess that was left behind,” he said.

Gordichuk said setting up a clear plan for who to call in advance would make the process much quicker in the future and avoid city staff from duplicating any work.

The debris management plan would also help prevent a sudden surge in material from overwhelming landfill capacity.

The city’s main Brady Road landfill is quite large, which greatly reduces that risk in Winnipeg. However, Gordichuk said proactive planning could help ensure enough space is prepared for emergency use ahead of time, preventing the need to quickly create temporary landfill sites.

He said temporary sites should be avoided “at all costs,” since materials disposed in places without proper barriers could allow liquids from garbage to contaminate land.

“It’s just really being proactive and getting ahead of it.”

The city’s consultant will be required to create a detailed disaster response and recovery plan, as well as a communications plan. The company will also be expected to estimate post-disaster debris volumes, identify staffing requirements, define initial response steps and phases of recovery and co-ordinate potential waste pickups at curbsides, depots and temporary storage sites.

The work will also pinpoint locations for at least four local temporary waste storage sites, outline training exercises and provide a template for cleanup reports.

“It’s just really being proactive and getting ahead of it and making sure that that we develop a pretty effective plan that’s going to make it… quicker for us to recover,” said Gordichuk.

The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, which provides disaster prevention research, said the plan should help Winnipeg recover more quickly from disasters in the future.

“I think it’s fairly unique to have a debris plan. I think this is great. I think more cities are going to have to follow this,” said Glenn McGillivray, the organization’s managing director.

“Our recent analysis has found that these disasters are growing by about 9.4 per cent annually in Canada…. (This) is very disconcerting.”

This type of planning is especially important because natural disaster damage is increasing at a rate that far exceeds population growth, McGillivray said.

“If you look at the insured loss figures between 1983 and 2008, disasters cost an average of about $400 million annually in Canada…. But ever since about 2009, we’re finding it jumped to about $2 billion a year,” he said.

“Our recent analysis has found that these disasters are growing by about 9.4 per cent annually in Canada…. (This) is very disconcerting.”

He said advanced planning for such events can shave days or weeks off the time it takes to recover.

The request for proposals notes the city has set aside $250,000 for the contract. A final disaster debris management plan is expected by Nov. 13.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.

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