Vanderhoof Has A Place On Facebook.Com

Sunday, July 15, 2007 05:58 AM

Although their community was facing the highest water flows ever experienced, the residents of Vanderhoof kept their sense of humour through the flooding . (photo on facebook.com "The Great Flood of '07 Vanderhoof)

The threat of flood in Vanderhoof is still real and no one is ready to walk away from the dikes, but the people in Vanderhoof have proven that with hard work, you can make a difference.

While most major media outlets have given the Vanderhoof flood situation only minimal coverage, young and old alike in Vanderhoof created their own means of chronicling and sharing the changes in their community as the Nechako River flows increased. They turned to Facebook.com the site that has been banned from use in some government offices (Ontario )because employees are pre-occupied with the site. They put together an album called The Great Flood of ’07, there, on Facebook for the world to see.

Here are some of the images and comments that appear on that site:

Faced with waterflows that were greater than had been experienced during the last flood,(1976) the community worked with a single purpose in mind… to protect the village.

Time after time they answered the call to come out and full sandbags. They filled, they stacked, and filled and stacked some more.

Those who weren’t filling and stacking were providing food and water to those who were. It was, and continues to be an example of how a community can pull together.

At left, the bridge crossing the Cheslatta, in danger of washout, while below right, the fury of the water is evident

At left, a little girl sits on a park bench in what used to be "Riverside Park" many resident now call it "Lakeside Park".

At right, a boy pedals his bike through the same park

One resident told Opinion 250 “If you asked me two weeks ago if I thought we were going to save out community I would have laughed at you, but now, I really think we did it, we saved our homes, and I am just in awe of all the work that was done.”

There are more than 250 pictures in this "album" on Facebook.com. If you go to the site, and are a registered user, search the term "Great Flood '07 Vanderhoof" to view all the rest of the amazing photos that have been taken by the people in this community.

Previous Story - Next Story