This morning, Solicitor General - Minister of Public Safety John Les,  took an helicopter ride over the Fraser River to see the big picture of the pending flood “What   you see from the air is a river that is very full.  From bank to bank there is not much room left, it is very brown, and there is a lot of debris in the river.  If you are looking at the railway bridge for example, there are a couple of places where the logs are stating to pile up, and I think that is going to have to be watched pretty closely.  Some erosion is happening in some of the areas.  At the Shelley Townsite, I was pleased to see the rip-rap is holding very well, but downstream from that you can see further erosion is happening.  The other thing is the power of the current.  There is a huge amount of energy in that river and of course as it rises, that multiplies.” 

There has been growing concern over the threat to CN rail tracks, and in the Skeena region, there are concerns about the bridges.  Les says he is confident “Those are clearly the more important part of emergency planning to make sure you keep your basic infrastructure free of collapse.  I know that as part of our preparations these past several months that we have invested about $3 million dollars in fortifying some of those bridges (Skeena area) through my colleague Kevin Falcon, we obviously will be watching that very closely.  "

 Les says the  Skeena is posing serious concerns  "The Skeena River ( shown in photo at left, as it boils  through the  piers for the Railway Bridge in Terrace) is one that we have been very concerned about right from the very beginning, and the last couple of days it has been coming up very quickly, and we will have to manage that on a day to day basis”.

Les has mentioned more than once his concern over the debris in the river.  At Paddlewheel Park, he watched as   full trees floated past.  

What can the lower mainland expect ?   Les says it is very  clear "What happens in Prince George today will happen in  the lower mainland four days from now"