Two Streams Of Concern Emerge From Flood Forum

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C.-  Finding long-term solutions to the flooding crisis and concerns over the berm on River Road were the two issues that garnered the most attention during the question-and-answer portion of last night’s first community flood forum.

Of the approximately 70 people in attendance at last night’s event at the Civic Centre, most were homeowners directly affected by flooding along the Nechako River, like Ed Mazur, co-chair of the recently formed Nechako Flood Victims Coalition.  Mazur was heartened to hear Mayor Colin Kinsley say he’s been assured by B.C.’s Solicitor-General that the City’s request to fund a study aimed at finding permanent long-term solutions will be fast-tracked.  But Mazur and others were concerned those solutions will still be 14-months in the offing.

Several others at last night’s meeting were employees of Winton Global, who haven’t gone back to work since the Christmas shutdown, after receiving letters January 11 saying flooding had left the planer mill inoperable.

David Stowell works at Winton Global’s sawmill, 60-kilometres north of Prince George, but points out he’s been affected by the flooding nonetheless and says with approximately 300 workers laid off, the total number of people affected is probably closer to 1,000.  He and co-workers Vic Quickenden and Ben Burnstae see the berm constructed on River Road as the main stumbling block to their return to work.  Quickenden, an engineer the hot oil plant says the initial berm put in on the Nechako river-side of the  plant and the River Road berm are trapping water around the operation, creating an extremely dangerous situation.

Mayor Colin Kinsley says the River Road dike was put in place after the river surge on January 5th that saw water rise above the 200-year plan.  He says the initial dike on the river-side is seen to be a weak link should another surge occur and the River Road berm had to go in to protect the entire city.

Both Winton Global and Brink Forest Products have laid workers off, citing safety concerns over the flooding.  But the City’s Director of Development Services, Bob Radloff, doesn’t believe there’s any foundation to those concerns, "We don’t believe there’s a safety reason not to be going to work, in fact, that’s why we installed the dikes that we did, the temporary raising of the road to ensure that they are safe where they’re working."

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us