Where Is That Flood On The Nechako We Were Spending 11.3 Million To Prevent
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 @ 3:45 AM
What has been the most interesting to watch in the flood on the Fraser River, is not the Fraser, but the Nechako.
There is considerable flooding in a number of areas along the banks of the Fraser river, but the area that the City wanted to pump 11.3 million dollars into isn’t facing the same dilemma.
Yes the water is high at the boat launch near the confluence of the Fraser, yes there is some ground seepage into the area north of the Nechako, that area that was not covered by any of the 11.3 million we were about to spend.
So you have to say to yourself, given that the Fraser levels are the highest that they have been in 40 years the citizens scrapping the fancy dike was a good idea.
Oh yes we will be told that the ice jam was the cause of the winter flood and it could happen again.
Well it could, that is if Rio Tinto Alcan decides to send anther surge of water down in the middle of the winter thereby floating the frozen ice which not only tore the bank to pieces near Miworth, but also dumped all of that new found gravel at the mouth of the Nechako, and we could see another flood. One would think a few calls to RTA telling them that if they spill a large volume of waiter in the winter triggering another flood, they will have to pay for the damages would also save us the 11.3 million we were set to spend.
Well that should be the call, but it seems that the last time, we simply chalked the flood up to Mother Nature, after all how could a large spill of water in the middle of the winter do any damage or cause a flood???
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
The $11.3 million should never have been considered by the city…. It is a federal and provincial responsibility and they should have been paying its cost if its needed.
Funniest thing I heard was the Chilliwack mayor on the news last night talking about the need to spend $30 million on dykes, but ‘conditional on the city being able to get financing’… I could just imagine how the poor old pensioner feels hearing this knowing the property taxes would have to go up substantially to service the ‘financing’.
For PG the worst case scenario IMO is if we get a slide at Stoner on the Fraser River… all of downtown PG would flood then as the river backed up… but no fear its just another hypothetical and no need to spend millions to mitigate.
What I find impressive is the flooding across the back road from Northwood. They built a break there this spring with huge crush rock that was 20-feet up the bank to protect the bridge, and I thought the water would never get that high… now one can’t even see it is even there… the forest is under twenty feet of water and kind of neat to look at as well. Another 5-6 feet and it would spill over into Northwood. I wouldn’t be surprised if the basement at Northwood is under water already.
Northwood has a basement?
If industry sets up shop along the rivers
surely they would be looking out to protect their bottom line, consequently one would think that their contribution to flood mitigation would be in their best interest. This should not be subsidized by the tax payers in my opinion, hence the loud NO WAY response from PG Citizens on the dike.
Thanks Ben for hitting the nail on the head because no one else dares to mention Rio Tinto Alcan’s contibution to the ice jam in 07/08.
I have lived her for fifty two years and the spring river has always been a threat, some years more than others. Lots of inconvenience, but not a state of emergemcy. Nothing has changed,except for the beaucatic intrusion and the media blowing the situation way out of proportion. Mega dollars waisted on a feel good project. The winter situation is a completely different story. Like Ben has stated, Rio/Alcan was the prime cause for the ice jam on the Nechako. The resulting deposit of gravel at the confluence of the Fraser/Nechako has caused ongoing problems. A simple solution to this problem is to dredge the river at the mouth and get on with life. A dike will not solve this problem. As for the spring Fraser problem. Get rid of the River Experts and the Media coverage and — poof– Problem solved. A simple solution to a simple problem. Socalled “EXPERTS” do not have the word “SIMPLE” in their vocabulary.
Just checked Rio/Alcan water levels in the Kenny Dam resevoir. It is presently over 4 feet lower than this time last year. Could someone from Rio/Alcan tell us why they are not holding back more water to help our flood situation. As of June 15/2012 2793.29 feet. As of June 12 2011 2797.8 feet.
There are indeed a couple of buildings at Northwood that have basements, though they are not near the river.
metalman.
RTA has applied to complete the second tunnel at Kemano.I have suggested that a condition of approval be that RTA build a bypass of the powerhouse and allow excess water from the reservoir to flow into the Kemano river and then into the ocean 16 kms downstream.At times like now RTA could help mitigate the flooding instead of contributing to it by opening the gates at Skins and flooding the Nechako.I haven’t got any traction on this one,seems no one wants to touch it.
Alcan most likely made a hole in the reservoir because of the larger than usual snow pack anticipating high inflows.
Do you know anything about the snowpack in the watershed that flows into the reservoir, giterdone? How about the short to intermediate weather outlook that may impact the watershed? I am looking at the risk involved in having too much water in there now and no more room for future runoff.
You may have the whole picture. I know I do not.
I think we are lucky that we have a company to blame for the Nechako instead of Mother Nature.
That is one of the consequences of dancing with her. Whoever is her dancing partner invariably takes the brunt of the blame. It is is printed in fine print on the dance card ….. ;-)
Comments for this article are closed.