Pacific NW/AK/BC BC Flooding

[noncrazycanuck]

more optimistic news this morning.

Over night Abbotsford citizens and staff managed to sandbag a major pump station, loss of it would have been even more catastrophic.
So far it's still functioning and helping to slow the rising water.
The Fraser dropped 2 meters overnight, if it drops another meter the flood gates to it can opened.
No rain in forecast.

Hope as much as possible is being done south of the border to get the Nootsack in control.
That river has changed course before, it's entry point to the ocean changed in the not to distant past.

Wonder if Glacier Creek washed away more properties at Baker Rim. The last time I saw it shift course it took out about a dozen and came close to the complex's clubhouse.

 

[Posaune]

Hope as much as possible is being done south of the border to get the Nooksack in control.
That river has changed course before, it's entry point to the ocean changed in the not to distant past.

Other than using dikes, I've not heard of any active work to control the Nooksack, though the conversation about it may take place now.
I was interested to find out that the area just north of the border and east of Abbotsford filling the valley between Chilliwak mtn. and Sumas mtn. was a lake at one time (Sumas Lake) and that it was drained in the 1920s to create farmland. It is now continuously pumped out in order to maintain its dry state for farmland. That makes for a big hole in the area for water to collect in during a big flood, and right now the authorities are warning that the pumps are about to fail and the lake will re-form. People are urged to evacuate immediately and leave their livestock to drown. It's that bad.Edi

Edit: The pumps have survived and the situation has mitigated.

 

[slow-line-fast]

Wow, Vancouver cut off from the rest of Canada. Stay safe everyone.

Has it happened before?

 

[scott43]

Wow, Vancouver cut off from the rest of Canada. Stay safe everyone.

Has it happened before?

Oh probably..just not in recent history. I mean, it's a flood-plain, outflow area..the Fraser drains a huge mountainous area. And it's subject to Pacific rainfall. Plus snow-pack melt. They had big floods in 1948 and 1894 from snow-melt.

Apparently they'll have 2 of the 5 main roads out of Vanc open in a few days. The other 3 could see significant downtime depending how quickly they can get temporary structures up to make the road passable and safe. Then the massive clean-up begins..

 

[DanoT]

Wow, Vancouver cut off from the rest of Canada. Stay safe everyone.

Has it happened before?

The main highways all over BC in the past can get shut down for a day or 2 due to winter storms but nothing like this with the amount of damage has ever happened before. And December is the wettest month on the coast, snowiest in most of the B.C. interior.

!n 1948 and earlier there were less population, roads and other infrastructural so floods would be less impactful both financially and physically.

 

[scott43]

This was published in 2019..fairly prescient...

Recognizing that there was a need for flood control measures after the 1948 flood, 250 miles of dykes were built in the 1950s and 1960s and 48 kilometres of the river’s channels were deepened in the lower reach of the Fraser. When waters again rose in 1972, flood conditions were more reasonable controlled, with dykes, prediction and timely sandbagging. However, there was still $10 million of damage, mainly in Prince George and Surrey.


With the increasing population along the Fraser River and the projected increased risk of sea level rise as a result of climate change, a consortium of all levels of government under the auspices of the Fraser Basin Council was formed and a major study was undertaken. The result — phase 1 of the Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy, published in May 2016 — showed that risks were projected to worsen over the next 85 years. It is estimated that should flooding at the predicted level occur, it would result in $20 to $30 billion dollars of damage, which would be “the most costly natural disaster in Canadian history to date, creating severe strain on the regional, provincial and national economies.”

 

[dovski]

Oh wow and to think I almost booked a last minute trip to Sun Peaks, never would have made it with all the road closures and flooding. What a shame as it looks like the have great snow.

 

[Jenny]

@DanoT , my friends from Sun Peaks went grocery shopping in Kamloops today...not good, bare shelves.

I still haven't hear from one the Vancouver Ski Diva's. She's lives in Richmond I think.

Kristina?

Still no news?

 

[Mel]

It looks terrible

@DanoT , my friends from Sun Peaks went grocery shopping in Kamloops today...not good, bare shelves.

I still haven't hear from one the Vancouver Ski Diva's. She's lives in Richmond I think.

ny parents and sister live in Richmond - despite being below sea level, they’ve been fine with no flooding. I suspect they benefit from being so close to the mouth of the river, as opposed to the communities in valleys with nowhere for the water to go but up.

I feel so badly for the affected communities - our flood here in Calgary in 2013 was bad enough, and the damage they are facing in BC is so much more!

 

[scott43]

I feel so badly for the affected communities - our flood here in Calgary in 2013 was bad enough, and the damage they are facing in BC is so much more!

I just read recently that the Calgary flood was is in fact considered a 1 in 70 year flood event. I'm curious if the City is putting into effect any mitigation efforts. That was a serious flood.

 

[Posaune]

Now there is a HUGE fire going on in a big RV storage area in Abbotsford where people have been evacuated. From the pictures I've seen there very well may be no way for the fire department to get there other than by boat.

We thought we had it bad down here with landslides and flooded roads and towns, but they're getting it much worse just a short distance away in the Fraser Valley.

 

[Mel]

I just read recently that the Calgary flood was is in fact considered a 1 in 70 year flood event. I'm curious if the City is putting into effect any mitigation efforts. That was a serious flood.

They have done quite a bit. We’ve paid attention, since parts of our neighbourhood were flooded or evacuated, and they e worked on drainage within the city as well as in the surrounding rural areas. Mitigation can really only do so much though.

 

[Jilly]

Landslides are an issue. Most of the major highways are blocked. I'm talking to a manufacturer in Langley and asked about shipping east. Will it happen anytime soon?

Kristina?

Still no news?

Yes. I thought I had her as a friend on FB. But I guess I don't.

 

[Jenny]

Landslides are an issue. Most of the major highways are blocked. I'm talking to a manufacturer in Langley and asked about shipping east. Will it happen anytime soon?

Yes. I thought I had her as a friend on FB. But I guess I don't.

Pauline says she's not on FB. She found her through Linked In, though, and sent a message. Hasn’t heard back yet.

 

[Jilly]

I live 19 km from Canada's largest forces base in eastern Canada. They mobilized this week. DART hasn't been used in a while. Be interesting to see if it goes out.

 

[Jilly]

If you're planning on a Whistler trip for opening...99 is blocked by a landslide. 4 people still missing. Most of us that have skied there, know that road. The Coquahalla is worst. Transports are lining up to get through.

 

[DanoT]

If you're planning on a Whistler trip for opening...99 is blocked by a landslide. 4 people still missing. Most of us that have skied there, know that road. The Coquahalla is worst. Transports are lining up to get through.

Highway 99 from Vancouver to Whistler is open as the slides on 99 occurred north of Pemberton. However Whistler is not yet open.

Anyone planning a ski trip this time of year is not seeking quality skiing, but in western Canada, Banff usually offers the most skiing, bad as it might be.

 

[Jilly]

Sorry..I understood it as south of WB. Maybe that TV station didn't know where they were. Felt sorry for the guys living under a sun canopy they showed. Community was helping out!

 

[tomahawkins]

It takes a while to download, but shows the devastation from the Nooksack.

https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/149000/149100/washington_msi_2021320_lrg.jpg

 

[Wendy]

I just read recently that the Calgary flood was is in fact considered a 1 in 70 year flood event. I'm curious if the City is putting into effect any mitigation efforts. That was a serious flood.

This is pretty interesting because just 2 or so weeks ago, I read a book about the paleoclimate of western North America. We’re talking about the climate history going back thousands of years (along with the geological evidence for it). Anyways, atmospheric river events with catastrophic flooding like the one that just occurred happened within regular intervals. And many were far worse than this one. Trouble is now, with warming temps that allow the atmosphere to hold more moisture, they can be more severe now.

The “1 in 70 year” or “thousand year flood” etc. terminology refers to probabilities. It doesn’t mean that this flood type would occur only that often. People often incorrectly assume that (not saying you are, btw)! And climate change is making that terminology obsolete.

This is an awful event for everyone out that way. I’m so sorry for everyone affected. Weirdly, our US news barely has anything about it but we tend to live in a bubble. (the BBC, which we watch/read, does). I hope there’s road improvements by the Christmas holidays so people can visit their families. At least you all have an October Thanksgiving so no big holiday travel this week.