Severe weather top of mind as Calgary faces growing list of high-risk hazards and threats

Extreme temperatures, natural disasters and other severe weather conditions top the City of Calgary's disaster management priority list, while water distribution infrastructure failure has become a higher-risk threat in light of last year's water main break.

An annual disaster risk assessment was presented to the city's emergency management committee by the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) on Wednesday. The report indicates 66 hazards and threats of varying priority levels that Calgary is at risk of. It's the same number as last year's assessment, but the number of high-risk hazards and threats has risen from 16 to 19.

Extreme heat is new to the city's high-risk disaster list, joining extreme cold among the most pressing natural hazards.

"We know that there's a shift in the climate," said Coby Duerr, deputy chief of CEMA.

Duerr highlighted increasing temperatures in Calgary over the last few years, as well as wildfires across Alberta due to hot and dry weather conditions.

Water distribution infrastructure failure was also newly upgraded to high-risk status, largely due to last June's Bearspaw south feeder main break, a situation that led the city to declare a state of local emergency.

The CEMA's list of possible human-induced hazards and threats is topped by active assailants, cyber attacks targeting critical services and infrastructure, mass attacks, mass gathering incidents, and illegal protests or demonstrations.

The highest-risk technological threats are critical or water distribution infrastructure failure, dam breaches of the Bow or Elbow River, and rail incidents.

Extreme temperatures, flooding of the Bow or Elbow River, heavy rainfall, a pandemic, tornadoes and winter storms comprise the list of high-risk natural hazards and threats.

Severe spring and summer weather events are of particular concern for the city, including tornadoes, heavy rainfall, hailstorms, extreme wind and thunderstorms.

Last year was the most expensive year in the country's history for losses stemming from severe weather, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. An August 2024 hailstorm in Calgary resulted in $3 billion in insured losses.

"I think that when we look at it from a climate change perspective, we see that there's a shift, that we see more complex events happening," said Duerr.

"That is happening across our country, and especially in Alberta, as one of those disaster capitals of Canada."

Alberta is a hotspot for tornadoes, which happen 12 to 15 times per year on average, said warning preparedness meteorologist Alysa Pederson during the presentation.