Nechako River Floods Homes In Prince George

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 03:23 AM

River Road was a mess of water and slush as the Nechako River spilled over its banks shortly after midnight.

A state of emergency has been declared on the north and south stretches along the Nechako River after the river spilled over its banks early this morning.

An ice jam to blame for the back up of water. The state of emergency applies to River Road and Pulpmill Road.

Click on video icon for footage of early morning flooding.

Two residents on the north side of the Nechako River had to be rescued from their home early this morning, as flood waters poured into their home.

Councillor Murry Krause says the water was about 6 inches deep on the lower level of their home, and the water was skimming across the upper level. “We’ve had floods before, but never anything like this, the water is just pouring in” said Krause as he disembarked from a City front end loader shortly after 2 a.m. The heavy equipment had to be brought in as an earlier effort using a 4x4 failed, the water was too deep around the home for any other type of vehicle to get in, or out.

The Krause home was not the only one to be evacuated On the south side of the Nechako River, on River Road, the four homes in a cluster west of the fish hatchery were evacuated shortly after midnight.

At right, City of Prince George worker, Wayne Worth, sets up a road block on River Road.

City of Prince George Manager of Utilities, Marko Fornari says residents on both sides of the river were notified earlier in the day that evacuation was a possibility.

The City of Prince George has been watching the river levels over the past week noting it had been high, and with the deep cold that settled into the region, there was a potential for ice jams. Alcan normally releases about 29 cubic meters of water per second into the Nechako at this time of the year, but is currently releasing about 90 cubic metres per second, and that level of flow will likely be maintained until February.

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Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 03:23 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: owl on December 11 2007 4:35 AM

Obviously time to build a proper dyking system along the full length of the river at least within the city limits.

Posted by: Chadermando on December 11 2007 4:55 AM

I called 911 to inform them that the river had spilled its banks at mid-night and didn't see the first city person arrive until over an hour later. Not very good preperation for this by the city IMO. They had at the time a number of loaders and dump trucks busy working clearing snow only a couple blocks away on 1st avenue that could have IMO stopped the overflow that really was only a section of river mayby 50 feet long behind the Pas Lumber office, and then it was flowing downhill from there flooding the rest of the area down towards the hatchery and Lakeland sawmill. Water came up about 5 feet in the time I watched it.

Posted by: ontwin on December 11 2007 8:49 AM

This is so typical of this town..lets "watch",lets "wait and oh oh see what happened??A week of watching the river level rise,ice jams 6' high and you wait for the weather to warm up to take care of the problem??? Is that a new cost saving budget measure??Or is it cheaper to block off the road,clean up after, or better yet wait until it warms up!Let the people who live by the river deal with their own problems and insurance.Every year we lose more of Cottonwood Park so lets rename the road to Cottonwood Park Road because that's all that will be left in 10 yrs.
I have an idea for a dyking system..throw Kinsley and our lame city council in the drink..its a start.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on December 11 2007 9:14 AM

What a nasty thing to happen right before Xmas!
Could they not have done something with the ice dam before it got this bad?

Posted by: kagee on December 11 2007 9:16 AM

A dyking system will not help as the area floods long before the water goes over the banks of the Nechako River. At 2:00pm yesterday water was sitting in the low areas behind the old dyke. I have worked for years on River Rd and have watched the area flood without the river going over the banks. Yes, this time it did come over but last spring it was interesting to see the City put up portable dykes between River Rd and the river only to watch the water come from the low area on the other side of the road and the dyke hold the water in on the road.

Right now I am watching the Foley Cres River & ice flowing into Lakeland yard.

Posted by: northman on December 11 2007 9:28 AM

"What a nasty thing to happen right before Xmas!
Could they not have done something with the ice dam before it got this bad?"
-Before they were authorized to use explosives to clear problems like beaver dams and ice blockages but our lovely ministry of environment is too scared some poor fish will get killed.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on December 11 2007 2:16 PM

So.. it's ok if peoples homes get flooded just for the sake of a few fish??
What's wrong with this picture?