BC Flooding

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As a Canadian-born citizen of the US, it was a little jarring to first learn about a major disaster in a neighboring country from a boating forum. If CNN and other national news organizations can cover Brittany Spears’ and the Royal Family’s dramas in depth, surely they can spare a few reporters to cover a calamity on the same continent we all occupy. Not to exclude the devastation in Washington state.

That said, it was also depressing to read some of the insensitive and politically inspired rhetoric in this thread. There’s a place and a time for comparing whether the Titanic or the Hindenburg was a greater calamity, but not while people were suffering through the worst of it. Guess we should be glad the folks in Nova Scotia weren’t looking for scores to settle when they were sheltering Americans after 9/11. It’s known as being neighborly.
 
Bill,
Sorry to have it confirmed as to how bad it is in parts of Washington State, and how this terrible situation is going to have many long term impacts on both Wash. and BC. Truly sorry for your losses.

With the already stretched supply chains, this is only going to greatly compound that problem as well as add additional ones.
It will be a long time before all of our affected highways and rail lines are totally repaired. One major highway "called the Coquihalla" has 5 major collapse locations. It runs from Hope to Kamloops (in central BC) but is normally a major trucking route. Alternative routes are few and add hours to the travel time, and most of them are damaged as well.
They have implemented a form of gasoline rationing. A limit of 30 litres per visit (about 8 US gallons) for all cars.
 
A stressful event for one country and,if the thread reflects reality( I hope not),there is bickering between neighbours. The way the discussion initiated here hasn`t helped.
Australia has sent expert firefighters to both Canada and USA when needed,but floods are different. Neighbouring countries can and should assist each other in times of great need.
Sadly it seems there is more heavy rain to come. With saturated ground, full dams, and swollen rivers, it`s a chilling prospect. We`ve something happening here,to a lesser extent so far. I understand and empathize,but that changes nothing. We call out the defence services in times like this, as no doubt does Canada. I`m sure USA will provide help, probably has already. Time to come together and help the neighbours.
 
Bruce, you missed that the border towns and area share in the tragedy of this storm. There is flooding, loss of property and livestock on both sides. We also share the poor media reports or up to date info on what is happening across the imaginary line. Thanks to posters here we are learning about the troubles just a few miles south and they about it on our side.

I live along this border, the 49th and can tell you that the only thing that separates us is the official border crossings.
Of course there are questionable people on both sides.
 
Alaskan Sea-Duction said:
Which version?
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Don’t you love a bunch of phonies lecturing you on such an innocent comment .I don’t see them in their boats in their cars with their checkbooks heading for the border the world is full of phonies ,Quick to point fingers this website is getting tiring Getting told how you’re supposed to feel about something just an Innocent comment ,MoveOn spare me
 
klee wyck said:
…here is the news from the other side of the border. It is catastrophic by any measure.
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Thank you for the current status from WA and thank you for your neighbourly concern.

Best wishes.
 
angus99; said:
If CNN and other national news organizations can cover Brittany Spears’ and the Royal Family’s dramas in depth, surely they can spare a few reporters to cover a calamity on the same continent we all occupy. Not to exclude the devastation in Washington state.
Click to expand...

Living only a few miles from Sumas WA and aware of our common topography, I was genuinely concerned and seeking information about our neighbours in WA.

Twice I asked the OP, a WA resident, for news, but it seems a fictional space traveler is of greater importance, so I sought out media reports.

Google provided little help, as this appeared not to be news worthy. Sadly King 5 was far down the list and KOMO didn’t show at all.

Vancouver Sun Nov 20; NBC and Yahoo, Nov 19; CNN and The Atlantic, Nov 18; NPR and King 5, Nov 17; AccuWeather and Washington Post, Nov 16.

Thankfully klee wyck provided a personal local report and perspective.
 
DryDoc said:
Living only a few miles from Sumas WA and aware of our common topography, I was genuinely concerned and seeking information about our neighbours in WA.

Twice I asked the OP, a WA resident, for news, but it seems a fictional space traveler is of greater importance, so I sought out media reports.

Google provided little help, as this appeared not to be news worthy. Sadly King 5 was far down the list and KOMO didn’t show at all.

Vancouver Sun Nov 20; NBC and Yahoo, Nov 19; CNN and The Atlantic, Nov 18; NPR and King 5, Nov 17; AccuWeather and Washington Post, Nov 16.

Thankfully klee wyck provided a personal local report and perspective.
Click to expand...

Local news organizations are going belly-up in many places. Their advertising model has cratered as those dollars move to the internet. They are also competing against countless news feed and sites that push “news” at a public with a finite attention span 24/7/365. Many of the local outlets which survive are being bought out by chains with little regard for the populations they purport to serve. As a long-ago local newspaper guy, the disappearance of local news is a depressing state of affairs. But this story should have had more extensive coverage from the national outlets.
 
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angus99 said:
As a Canadian-born citizen of the US, it was a little jarring to first learn about a major disaster in a neighboring country from a boating forum. ...
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Same here, I'm still dumbfounded that the mainstream media -- which is a loaded phrase lately I know, but for lack of anything more descriptive -- is still almost completely ignoring this entire crisis. Instead we get a steady diet of ridiculously trivial, worthless junk like: "Jojo Siwa ditches trademark ponytail...!" -- I'm not kidding, if I simply click on google news, that's one of the articles that comes up, reported by CNN. And yet nothing, not a single news digest result on the disaster in BC.

I do agree with the comments that this forum in general has shifted lately, gotten a notch more contentious, but still tons of good content and gracious members overall so I stay. But the BC reports -- or lack thereof -- is a perfect example of why nobody trusts the general media on anything anymore, from natural disasters to vaxxing to anything else. Like some others, if it weren't for this thread and purposely searching out the few news pieces, I'd be utterly clueless about BC right now.
 
kthoennes said:
Same here, I'm still dumbfounded that the mainstream media -- which is a loaded phrase lately I know, but for lack of anything more descriptive -- is still almost completely ignoring this entire crisis. Instead we get a steady diet of ridiculously trivial, worthless junk like: "Jojo Siwa ditches trademark ponytail...!" -- I'm not kidding, if I simply click on google news, that's one of the articles that comes up, reported by CNN. And yet nothing, not a single news digest result on the disaster in BC.

I do agree with the comments that this forum in general has shifted lately, gotten a notch more contentious, but still tons of good content and gracious members overall so I stay. But the BC reports -- or lack thereof -- is a perfect example of why nobody trusts the general media on anything anymore, from natural disasters to vaxxing to anything else. Like some others, if it weren't for this thread and purposely searching out the few news pieces, I'd be utterly clueless about BC right now.
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Perfect example? Trust in the mainstream because of lack of continued coverage of a natural disaster? It has always happened as we have short attention spans and there is always a new major issue. Why would this affect trust in vaccines? Please don’t conflate different issues where there are agendas to create misinformation as opposed to lack of attention. I don’t see it being an example at all.

I didn’t see much attention to tornados after the first day they hit, the massive flooding in other parts of the Us, avalanches etc. it gets a headline if sensational or impactful enough then disappears as people try to rebuild their lives.
 
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American news outlets have mostly ignored Canada ever since the War of 1812. Nothing new there, unfortunately. And for the Washington impacts, it's a regional story. How long does (national) media focus on tornado disasters, even major hurricane damage? Andrew and Katrina seem to be the only exceptions that come to mind. Sandy maybe, because: New York City.

I can't even find news of Anacortes impacts in the local Anacortes online news sources today though I admit I gave up after five minutes of trying.
 
Alaskaflyer said:
American news outlets have mostly ignored Canada ever since the War of 1812. Nothing new there, unfortunately. And for the Washington impacts, it's a regional story. How long does (national) media focus on tornado disasters, even major hurricane damage? Andrew and Katrina seem to be the only exceptions that come to mind. Sandy maybe, because: New York City.

I can't even find news of Anacortes impacts in the local Anacortes online news sources today though I admit I gave up after five minutes of trying.
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Simple answer is that it's not profitable. News is a product of business that exist to be profitable. If viewership decides Britney Spears is what they want to hear about, that's what is going to covered. When you have competition and polling, news outlets will focus on retaining viewership and advertisers.

Ted
 
O C Diver said:
Simple answer is that it's not profitable. News is a product of business that exist to be profitable. If viewership decides Britney Spears is what they want to hear about, that's what is going to covered. When you have competition and polling, news outlets will focus on retaining viewership and advertisers.

Ted
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I think there's a lot to that -- follow the money/revenue/clicks-and-eyeballs to see what drives news, which is almost entirely online now. I know teen and 20-somethings drive most of the clicks (although they clearly don't have most of the money) but really, another search result was Chrissy Tiegen's eyebrow transplant (whoever she is). I don't mean to sound like one of those crabby old guys in the theater box on the Muppets Show, but how shallow can the "news" possibly get? And to bowball's point about not conflating the legitimate with the agenda-driven or worthless stuff -- when you figure out how to confidently know the difference, let me know. Any outlet that reports on a faux-celebrity eyebrow transplant forfeits any credibility in my mind, on any topic.

But I really don't mean to shove this thread off track with a discussion of media trends, back to BC and PNW.
 
The standard media bashing here differs with my experience on the
Nov. 16 or 17 news broadcast I saw on my local KCAL channel 5 nightly news.
They devoted several minutes to the flooding because it was a news event then.
I also saw more detailed coverage on the NPR BBC feed as one would expect.

Maybe other local news shows didn't cover it, IDK.

I wouldn't know about Fox 'news'.
 
Likewise Knot, we've had no difficulty finding PNW flood news. An interesting news revelation (or responsibility diversion) are several government claims as to this bout of flooding is a consequence of global warming.

For those experienced with large industrial projects, designing to 5,000 to 10,000 year flood events per government mandates is common. It will be interesting to see what design criteria is applied to future flood control measures for the Sumas Lake forever dry concepts. Currently the 500,000 GPM pump systems and dike heights are known to be too small, thus how much "bigger" and when.

Then comes - controlling the Nootsack River flooding which involves cross border joint designs compatible with what is planned for the Sumas Lake area.
 
O C Diver said:
Was it on the national news, local news, or did you have to look for it?

Ted
Click to expand...

Many sites such as WSJ, Drudge, MSN Canada, Yahoo, and FT but to name a few.

This subject does raise a question though - where do we individually go to stay informed on a regular basis.
 
Apparently Trawler Forum. I've got a few users set to "ignore" but I can count those on one hand. Otherwise I trust almost any of you more than the general media.
 
I drove up to Sumas to help those that I could, it was like pissing in the ocean. The scope of damage is incomprehensible. If you can help do so on either side of the border. Neighbors helping neighbors, strangers helping strangers and people helping people are what’s important. Keep the political bitching and wining, news bashing and the callous comments to your selves.

Understand the assignment….
 
I am not a part of the news source bashing. The entire weather system and it's results were reported by major news networks. I was curious and then went to weather.com. However, there are so many news stories every day and so much tragedy in the world, none of us can keep up with it all. After learning about it, I then didn't think further until the posts here. Then it became personal as I know people in the area. There is simply more news than any of us can digest. National news networks can't cover it all. A Florida news program has many issues closer to their audience than this. Today's news and front page is the headlines of today. Right now I see the horrific tragedy of the SUV in Waukesha. However, for the most part people want to see that which impacts or may impact them directly. Waukesha will soon be out of the news.

We discuss things here like the ports of Los Angeles. To me, it's an important issue. Do you know how little the average resident in my area cares about it or seeing it or reading about it? They do care about empty shelves. However, the majority don't even care to read beyond that, to understand why they're empty. They just shop and return home angry at the merchant.

Do Americans care less about Canada than the US? Yes. But Marylanders care less about New York than Maryland.

How long or how much could you watch news that showed story after story for hours and in detail of all the suffering in the world? Part of me wants to know it all, but the wiser part of me knows I can't take it all.

A small very personal example. Our "daughter" (not by birth but since she was 18) runs a foundation that provides charitable help in 3 counties. She has 6 social workers who can on average each help 3 persons or families per day. With her that's around 20 people. The focus is on those who fall in gaps and those helped are mainly referrals from the county social services. Typical example is father disappears and mother and three children will qualify for housing subsidies but will take some time and they need housing today. She spends her day dealing with those in need and helps a few. I emphasize few though. There are hundreds of thousands, even millions though out the country and world in greater need. I think of all those and feel terrible sadness. Fortunately she is just thankful for the few she can help.

I looked at Canadian farmers trying to rescue their cows. I saw searchers recovering a body from the mudslide, I saw hundreds rescued from the BC roadways. All this available on major news networks. I thought of the after effects faced by all.

Then I pulled up the seven climate disasters in the US during the summer of 2021. I had followed Hurricane Ida carefully, but it sure slipped out of the news quickly. I was knowledgeable on the drought in the West and remembered the impact on the Colorado River, but I'm not sure I'd really thought about the total impact. I knew there was a heatwave in the PNW but honestly didn't give it a lot of thought as those temperatures just didn't seem that bad. I'm not sure if I realized how many died or that it hit 120+ degrees and cooked shellfish or that Lytton, BC was destroyed by a wildfire. I had followed the wildfires from the West. I was aware of the water shortages but hadn't really seen much on the impact. Then there were two I don't even recall paying much attention to. Flash flooding in TN and Hurricane Henri in the NE. These were covered well by the weather channels, but most of us only watch when things are coming our way.

And this is just one small part of the world. We're all somewhat ignorant of all that is taking place. I'm glad some have made the current issues in BC and the PNW more personal to us on this forum. I'm more knowledgeable because of that, less ignorant. However, I'm not going to blame the news networks and certainly not local news this far away. It's impossible for us all to keep up with everything going on and even coming close requires some searching on our own.

Here's a headline for you. "Over 12 million deaths associated with environmental risks each year." Now, I don't know if that number is right but I can't even grasp how many people truly are impacted. The best I can do is read this thread and understand a little of the pain our friends here are suffering through.
 
Wondering why Canada,and US border areas,are getting whacked. I saw this announcement from our BOM of a "La Nina" resulting from the "Southern Oscillation Index".https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-23/bom-declares-la-nina-as-rain-continues/100568884
Usually La Nina here means an "El Nino"(dry) somewhere else(like CA). Canada not being in the "Southern" region, maybe it`s getting La Nina conditions as well. Is there a Northern Oscillation Index?
 
If you click on Windy and go to Wednesday the 24th at 7 am, you will see winds further north above Vancouver Island. These kinds of storms have historically been called the "Pineapple Express" roughly out of Hawaii. If you scroll out with Windy on the 24th at 7 am and look at Hawaii, you can see the winds starting just north of the islands.

I did do some digging around concern La Nina and it seems it hit earlier in the year if I remember, more around last spring. So I'm no expert but I don't see that as a significant factor now. I'm guessing our waters are warmer as a report went out spotting a white shark in our waters, not sure if it was in the Salish sea area or along the outer coast.

There is speculation that the ground has crusted where there have been forest fires throughout the province due to not global warming. Thus water that may have been absorbed funneled into run off. Recall we had a heat bomb in the summer. My heat pump air conditioning could barely keep up, I had to have the fan on in my bedroom along with the AC on. As far as I am aware, this hasn't happened in my area. Some called the heat bomb a once in a 100 years event. With no global warming, I suspect there are going to be more heat bombs.
 
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+2 the pineapple express, many a monsoon they have brought.
usually occur with el Niño.
La Nina? has brought the atmospheric river.
Both have caused heavy mudslides. Go figure.
La Nina usually brings snow. Must be that climate change thing.
 
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/la-nina-2021-1.6212257


In Canada, La Niña tends to be linked to winter weather that includes above average precipitation in British Columbia, colder-than-normal temperatures in the Prairies and more rain and snow than average in Ontario and Quebec, according to Environment Canada.Oct 15, 2021
 
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