June 2013 Flood cited as the major delay in report being released

It turns out that the Calgary Emergency Management Agency’s (CEMA) annual report won’t be released until September.
The Calgary Journal reported in May that the annual report would be made public in June based on information received in an email from Sheila Johnstone, a City of Calgary media relations officer.
The report is usually released in the spring. The 2011 and 2012 reports both came out in April.
Apparently the June 2013 flood is the principal reason for the delay.
“The flood certainly has increased the workload on everybody,” says Cara Katterhagen, a communications strategist for CEMA. “We have been preparing many reports that we have presented to city council, so they are very aware of CEMA’s activities. We have not gotten around to releasing the annual report due to working on these flood reports.”
Katterhagen added that CEMA is not obligated to release its annual report at a certain time. The Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) was heavily involved in managing the June 2013 flood emergency efforts in Calgary.
Photo Courtesy of City of Calgary/Flickr
CEMA director Bruce Barrell is retiring on June 11. Katterhagen said that the delay to September has nothing to do with waiting for a new CEMA leader to be named.
Items expected to be included in the annual report, other than details on flood recovery and preparation efforts, is information on the Canadian Pacific train derailments that took place in the communities of Bonnybrook and Inglewood in June and September 2013 respectively.
Editor’s note: To view the previous Calgary Journal article on CEMA’s annual report visit http://www.calgaryjournal.ca/index.php/news/2239-calgary-keeps-emergency-plan-a-secret