McAloney Road Closed, Flooding

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 05:18 PM

McAloney Road, in the centre of photo, is under water ( photo Opinion250 staff)

Prince George, B.C. – The ice jam on the Nechako River in Prince George is now 5 km long, and Ministry of Environment Flow Expert, Lyle Larson says the river will just have to “run its course.”

Evacuation alerts have been given to businesses in the light industrial area west of the Cameron Street Bridge, Winton Global’s Home Division is on alert, and the City has already closed McAloney Road. Diversified Transportation says its school buses will be dispatched from the yard in that area tomorrow morning, but if the water continues to rise, the buses will be moved to higher ground, “We are looking at a site in the Hart” says Operations Manager Linda Wiebe, “We should be o.k. as long as we have access to Ongman Road”.

The City says it will be up to the businesses to decide if they will shut down, but BC Hydro could force the issue by cutting power should the water threaten the buildings.

Several businesses on River Road have been forced to shut down. Winton Global’s planer mill is closed, Brink forest products has shut down its shifts and Lakeland Mills is not answering the phone.

Larson flew over the Nechako River today and says there are still a lot of “ice pans” floating down the river, and some shore ice is breaking away and adding to the ice jam. Larson says under current conditions, the slushy ice is packing up against the ice jam. He says eventually the river will cut a course through the jam, but there is no telling when that will happen. Larson says it would be great if we had severe cold temperatures for a while, because that would ice over the river and the water could run underneath.

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