It wasn't a huge turnout for the new Flood Action Plan meeting Tuesday night but the small group still had concerns.

Locals voiced their concerns about damage to their homes from past floods and asked why river berming hasn't happened for the town.

Protective Services Director Scott Roberts says the town has followed all flood precautions the province has governed.

"Anytime there is any modification done to a wetland or a river valley the town of Okotoks can only make a request and recommendation to the province of Alberta and then we are governed by their decisions. So in this case the province has decided that the mitigation that we put in place was the right form of mitigation based on the land that we are dealing with."

It was explained to the residents that attended the meeting that if the Sheep River was bermed to protect their area it would only effect another part of the river and it's surroundings just as bad or even worse.

On the positive side Roberts says that the town should be happy to hear that all projects have been completed within town since the 2013 flood.

"The one project that isn't complete is the CPR land it's just west of town on the 549. CPR started the project they just haven't finished it yet, I understand that as of today they have pushed the project into the next calendar year. Within the town of Okotoks all of our remediation and mitigation projects are completed and that includes all of the additional equipment we were able to purchase through the Flood Preparedness grant."

Roberts says among the many new additions to their flood equipment is the new sandbagging techniques.

"We learned that we could have deployed our sandbags earlier...And we are looking for a volunteer resource pool to get people out there to start laying the sandbags. We also have a lot of different styles of sandbags that we didn't have in 2013."

Another upgrade to the Flood Action Plan that residents should look forward to is the creation of different models from conducted surveys and the collection of research by Environment Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) that will better predict the happenings of future floods.

That data will be available for the spring of 2017.

Though the Sheep River is well below past levels at this time there is still a 220cm snow pack.

Locals are encouraged to sign up for the S.C.A.N. system and to get the Alberta Rivers App to keep an eye on water levels.

For more information regarding the Flood Action Plan meeting go to Okotoks.ca.

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