Just Another Weekend Living on the Fraser
Sunday, June 10, 2012 @ 3:02 PM
Bernie Gould points to the floodline the Fraser River reached near his Foreman Flats home
Prince George, B.C. – A weekend that began with rivers in the area on the rise and some residents on alert wound down with water receding and homes, for the most part, remaining dry.
The Regional District of Fraser Fort George remains at Level 1 activation in its Emergency Operations Centre, but the evacuation alert for 6 homes on Foreman Flats has now been cancelled. Great news for Fern and Bernie Gould, who live at the very end of Foreman Road. They had watched the Fraser spill its banks and come to within 10 feet or so of their home. “Nothing we haven’t seen before”, says Bernie, “it happens every year.” Fern says the river peaked early yesterday morning “and made its way toward the house through this channel. But then as quickly as it has come, it started backing off.” “Just as if you had pulled the plug” added Bernie. He says he doesn’t know for sure if the flood threat is done for this spring. “The big problem right now is the sitting water. We’re going to be bombarded with mosquitoes. It’s not so bad for us, but it’s really hard on the animals.”
The Regional District had dropped off stacks of sandbags in a farmer’s field further up Foreman Road. The bags are filled by inmates at the prison. Bernie says it’s great that the regional district takes the precautionary measure of providing the bags, although he didn’t move any down to his property. He had several hay bales on hand, just in case they were needed to provide a protective dike.
Meantime the Fraser peaked at 9.719 metres at the South Fort George gauge early Saturday morning. Evacuation orders had been served to residents of 17 homes on Farrell Street and as of noon Saturday, the City stated that no changes to evacuation orders or alerts would occur before Monday, barring an unexpected change in circumstances. However city crews were busy Saturday afternoon removing emergency lighting on Farrell Street. ( see photo at top right)A little further along the Fraser, at the end of Landsdowne Road, homeowner Kelly McCuaig had a busy Saturday as the river reached 9.98 metres (the mark signified by the windmill in the photo bottom right).
McCuiag says “if it gets up to that level for any amount of time then we started getting a wet basement” through ground seepage. He says “in all the years I’ve been here I’ve never had the water physically touch the house so that’ll be a brand new deal for me, but that’s what they’re saying for this year. He says a technician told him that during the last big flood in 1972, the water was lapping against the edge of Landsdowne Road in front of his house. “The techs are telling me that the snowpack is 20 percent higher than it was in ’72 so this could be the year, I guess.” But he says his basement is equipped with a three-pump system that does the trick in getting rid of any water that gets in.
“Every year I go, I’m moving out of this place or I’m going to build a big dike or something, and then as soon as the water rolls back that’s it, I’m on to other things. Hey we’re good today but next week could be different again.”
Comments
No offense, but I will never understand why a person would buy or build a home on a flood plain. Just makes me shake my head.
Yeah, I don’t get it either… but to each their own.
homeowner Kelly McCuaig: âEvery year I go, Iâm moving out of this place or Iâm going to build a big dike or something, and then as soon as the water rolls back thatâs it, Iâm on to other things. Hey weâre good today but next week could be different again.â
Maybe the key is living in a state of semi-denial combined with a touch of procrastination.
LOL… C’mon…it’s a unique piece of property….for 2 or 3 weeks a year you get the mighty Fraser river washing off your sundeck. Insurance might be incredibly expensive, if at all, but hey it’s water front property.
Each year the problem comes back some years will be worse than others. The cause is that dirt and gravel comes down both rivers and reqires the gravel to be dredged to form a channel to allow the free flow of spring runoff to occurr. To not dredge would allow the continual annual build up of confluence causing the need of heigher dykes to be built. Thus robbing money from needy projects like road maintainance.
Each year the problem comes back some years will be worse than others. The cause is that dirt and gravel comes down both rivers and reqires the gravel to be dredged to form a channel to allow the free flow of spring runoff to occurr. To not dredge would allow the continual annual build up of confluence causing the need of heigher dykes to be built. Thus robbing money from needy projects like road maintainance.
We are good at building houses which do not suit the property they are built on and even the climate they are built in.
We can see the extremes of that with the houses we build in flood plains.
We do not have any streams in Prince George which are subject to flash floods. The flooing on our rivers are relatively predictable and it is quite simple to design houses and larger buildings within flood plains.
I would be comfortable in saying that we are basically too ignorant to do so.
In fact, so many “Richmond specials” with the primary living spaces on the second floor are already built here on non-flood plains that designing a building of that style would be an easy transition.
http://www.drummondhouseplans.com/fileadmin/_entemp_/L060711090848.jpg
Something a bit more interesting:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_I2Vgp-Gddxs/Sl27JKip8tI/AAAAAAAAIQU/i2OO2G29XtA/s1600-h/arc+ultra-modern-wood-metal-lake-house.jpg
Probably more in keeping with the current PG vernacular.
http://www.countryplans.com/images/gr-tb.jpg
And something to think about from the world over …. http://thisfacade.com/architecture/living-on-stilts.html
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Surefire .. the flooding of the Fraser is a problem all along the river. It is not a river that can be dredged economically along its length. Above all, it is not a commerically navigable river in its present state.
It is simple, the river has cut its course over time and it rises and falls considerably over the year, in fact, higher than most tidal waters.
In my opinion we should not waste money on dredging the Fraser.
As far as housing along the bank, relocate them over time or rebuild them properly in those areas where there is no erosion. Rip rap could be placed along banks which could creep further inland over decades. That would be the limits of the flood mitigation I would provide.
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