Vanderhoof Flows Surpass '76 Flood Levels

By 250 News

Riverside Park in Vanderhoof is no place for a picnic !  (photo Opinion250 staff)

The residents of Vanderhoof haven’t seen the river this high in more than 30 years.  The Nechako River has surpassed the flows experienced in 1976, when that community suffered through a serious flood.

Thirty years ago the  peak flow was  748 cubic metres per second.  Yesterday, the  flow  passed that  figure  as the  water gauge recorded a flow of 751 cubic metres per second.

This time around though the community has worked very hard to keep the worst of the water out of the community. 

With three kilometres of dikes set up to handle a flow of 800 cubic metres per  second, the community of Vanderhoof has  worked hard to protect itself.

Alcan has been releasing water from the Skins Lake Spillway  since February to minimize the risk of flooding  because of a  record snowpack and  high precipitation . 

The  high  flow releases from Skins Lake Spillway will continue for another month.    Alcan has also received permission to  increase the operating level of the  reservoir by one foot  to  reduce the magnitude of flooding.  The District of Vanderhoof  says the Nechako Rerservoir is  not compromised and the dam is at normal maximum operating capacity.

There will be another meeting in Vanderhoof this Wednesday evening at 7 at the  Nechako Seniors Friendship Centre  for a summary of all the flood protection works that have been implemented  to date.

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