High River: Ten Years After the Devastation

It's been a little more than 10 years since floods swept through the town of High River, leaving thousands of people homeless and destroying entire neighborhoods.

But despite the pain and trauma, residents and local leaders say they've seen a resurgence fueled by community spirit and their unlikely role in producing HBO. We are the last.

About ten years have passed. Resident Mackenzie Lucken, who witnessed the flooding, says her neighbors were especially close before the disaster.

“My home was in Beachwood, a loving community. Everyone got together at Christmas time. We all want to relax, have a big fire and drink hot chocolate,” Lacten says.

However, the flood changed everything.

“My brother woke me up and said, 'Oh my God, look outside.' “I looked out the window and the water was so high next to the berm that they built to prevent flooding.”

Even ten years later, Lacten's injury still haunts him.

“The flood made me understand water very well. Then I was afraid to go swimming. I hated it when it rained; I would cry. Because I was very afraid that my house would be flooded again.”

We are the last, a show about a zombie apocalypse, was partially filmed in Lacten's old Beachwood community. He appreciated the appearance of the city on the screen.

“It's great to see that everyone can experience what Alberta is all about. Alberta is not just the Rockies, so it was great to see them bring those areas together.”

While the appearance on the hit series is thrilling for many, others still find it difficult to get over the difficulties of that period in their lives.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass is seeing evidence of flooding all over the city.

“We're 10 years in and it's still going strong. Financially, many people are still recovering from it. The real story is PTSD itself, the mental strain on people is still alive and well,” says Snodgrass.

Silver lining

production We are the last According to the Motion Picture Association of Canada, it was the largest television series in Canadian history. In total, it has injected more than $141 million into Alberta's economy and employed more than 840 local cast and crew across the province.

There's a funny irony that doesn't sit well with the locals: when big industry came looking for an abandoned neighborhood, that's exactly where they happened to be.

Because Beachwood was one of the first communities affected by the flood, the mayor made the decision to evacuate the area entirely.

“We need to be more aware of where we are building our communities. We excluded two neighborhoods, one called Beachwood and the other Wallaceville. So, we destroyed about 180 structures,” says Snodgrass.

However, from the manufacturers We are the last managed to secure a place within the community before all the streets and sidewalks were destroyed. All the houses shown in the screenshot were sets built after the town of High River removed the communities.

The houses damaged by the floods of 2013 were not used.

“To say that this has benefited our city is terrible. It's brought in a lot of revenue from visitors because they want to see this city and see what happened to it and recover from it.”

As High River looks to the future, the city remains resilient. Acknowledging pain and trauma, residents like Lacten express hope.

“I think this small town would make a great movie set for anything because we have that small-town feel and that creepy backwoods vibe. I think it's a great community,” Lacten says.

The 2013 flood may live forever in the memories of High River residents. However, their stories of recovery, resilience and community spirit continue to shape the city's history moving forward.

View: High River, ten years after the destruction

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