BC Flooding

So it will be interesting to see how these storms will affect spring high tide trash in the water later in April as the cruising season starts.

https://gcaptain.com/storm-of-the-c...139820873&mc_cid=2bee003c1d&mc_eid=5b70bcca05

Sorry Tom,
Here in BC, we have bigger fish to fry right now. Thousands of people are displaced from their homes and have no indication of when they will be able to return, and to what they will be returning to!!! Many gas stations are out of gas. Grocery stores are already out of many items like veggies and dairy! All of the major transportation methods and routes are impassable and could be for quite a while with many bridges collapsed! BC has declared a "State of Emergency" and rightly so!

This could end up being the costliest natural diaster in Canadian history, with impacts continuing for a long time to come (not to mention the already problem of "supply chain issues" before the floods), so sorry, we are not right now concerned with future debris that could affect our American friends when they "come north" on the water next spring (even if that does prove to be a bit of an "issue")!!!
Sorry to say it, but I find your post to be insensitive at best!!!
This is not meant as a personal attack, but it is directed at the wording and context of your post.

Well said Firehoser.
Completely insensitive and self centred, although I expected nothing more.

This is a poster who scours the internet to find inane “BC” stuff to immediately post and stir the pot. Yet when our chips are down, in he comes two days after the fact and couldn’t even quote his usual Canadian source, the CBC.

Bloomberg? Really?
609 words; “people” mentioned once.

I much more appreciate those who said nothing.

Been watching the disaster with empathy after suffering cat 5 Michael here in 2018. We still have lots to fix here, and it will be a marathon for BC, not a quick race to fix, if our experience is anything to go by. I am hoping the USA is looking at ways to mitigate the rail and highway blockages by allowing use of our transportation network.

rgano said:

I am hoping the USA is looking at ways to mitigate the rail and highway blockages by allowing use of our transportation network.

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rgano, thank you for your sensitivity and concern. Supply chains are being routed through the US from our coast to the interior. However, much of Washington suffered from this storm as well.

From Mt Vernon north it is a mess. Roads closed, towns completely under water. Sumas took the brunt of it, but overall the entire area of northern WA has been hit very hard as well. A fact which eluded our original poster.

As we work through this, I can't help but feel grateful that we live in such a rich country and my thoughts go to places like Abaco.

I need to read up on this more.

How many inches of rain? We got hit by an earlier event on the west coast taking 8” of rain in two days but it didn’t have nearly this impact you are describing. Is it more rain or that the infrastructure couldn’t handle it? Rails and roads?

Sounds horrible. Hope it can get back to normal soon.

bowball said:

I need to read up on this more.
Is it more rain or that the infrastructure couldn’t handle it?

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Well, the simple answer is; all of November's rain in two days; some areas getting 300% of normal.

But it’s really a complicated combination of many events and factors.

Google has tons of stories but these will give you a start.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/post-wildfire-floodring-1.6253544

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...bc-is-trapped-in-a-world-of-climate-extremes/

https://globalnews.ca/news/8379181/bc-wildfires-floods-2021/

Here in Concrete (Skgit R. area) we lost power for nearly two days.

Hamilton, a small town 3-4 miles west of us was “evacuated” but the’re cleaning up now.

Wifey B: I'm so sorry for all you're going through in BC. I've seen it over and over that some areas get tremendous response to disasters and others get way too little. Mexico City, FL never got adequate. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands didn't. I don't even want to think of Haiti and what they face and while I know many who helped the Bahamas, they still weren't treated by our country's government like a neighbor should be. Then this year, Louisiana and the gulf coast. Not big business so secondary. I saw it in rural SC years ago. I think even in the Canadian centers of government the thought is a bit of, "oh BC, it's way over that way." I know we can't all fund all these situations, but I am continually disappointed by the lack of news at least continuing to inform us of the human suffering. I admit right now that until the links I really didn't realize how bad things were in the area. I wish you all the best in what will be a long and tough recovery and apologize personally for not showing concern and understanding sooner.

I live in Lynden, WA and we have many people displaced by the floods. The Nooksack River has flooded over its banks and many homes have 4-5' of water in them. Virtually all roads around Lynden are closed and only diesel powered tractors are able to get thru the 3-4' of water on the roads. Thousands without power as well. A true mess everywhere.

Prayers and good wishes to the people impacted by this. The Canadian Red Cross has a donation page for anyone wanting to help:

https://donate.redcross.ca/page/94172/donate/1?locale=en-CA

Let’s not dump too much on the OP, perhaps he didn’t realize the magnitude of the disaster, and at least he gave me a chance to post this link!

BlueMoon1975 said:

Prayers and good wishes to the people impacted by this. The Canadian Red Cross has a donation page for anyone wanting to help:

https://donate.redcross.ca/page/94172/donate/1?locale=en-CA

Let’s not dump too much on the OP, perhaps he didn’t realize the magnitude of the disaster, and at least he gave me a chance to post this link!

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BlueMoon and others:
Thanks for your link and for everyone's thoughts and prayers for those way less fortunate than myself, here on the high dry ground in Nanaimo. Based on the OP's link in his post, he must have had some indication of the severity of the problem. Yes, many areas in Washington State are not having it easy either!!
With all major highways badly damaged and both rail lines out of service until who knows when, this situation could create huge supply problems that may last for quite a while. New bridges usually take a while to construct, as well, washed out sections of highway requiring major repairs and multiple landslide removals take varying degrees of time and resources.
Supply shortages already. I hope not, but this could get very difficult before it gets better!

Best wishes to all who have suffered any kind of a loss, and some have lost everything except the clothes on their backs.

I wonder if the food situation will require barge supply from the USA?

Rich,

That is a definite possibility. I hope the "planners" are looking into all possible stop gap solutions. Many gas stations in Victoria (BC's capital on the south end of Vancouver Island) are out of gas........saying it is caused by "panic buying" and not actual shortages. The main highway on the Island had a major collapse on one side of the road (northbound lanes) and has had overnight total closures from 6PM to 6AM. Tonight, it will remain open (one lane alternating directions), so maybe fuel trucks from the mid Island can get to Victoria.
Let's hope the "officials" in charge do a good job!!
Update: There are still over 17,000 people who have been evacuated from their homes as of now.

Tom, I see BC Ferry is running from Swartz to Duke point to bypass the man HWY closures.
They named the event as a atmospheric river? We used to call it the Hawaii express?
The ground was saturated from steady rains before the storm hit with 10+ inches in two days.
On the positive side there has not been any low tides in a week.

Some are already saying this is Canada's worst disaster, I am agreement. The damage to our transportation infrastructure is massive. Realize that the BC port is the third largest/busiest in North America. It has been shut down. I will link to a flickr account of images to the damage to roads and rail lines, its brutally bad. The only way BC can get a quick fix, and it appears currently I'm the only one saying this, but construction/engineer crews have to be brought in from the other provinces, its that bad. But don't take my word for it, you can see below. Note: BC doesn't have as extensive a road system as in the States as our population is much smaller.

I notice when I tab on the link below, the images begin about half way through the photographs, scroll to the top first before you view them.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tranb...IurPfgJn1risbb2GuGkG1r-c3wrRlxGQQ6rUw4qd1b1eo

RSN
Hopefully the rail system repair areas will not be too far into the Rockies. Winters at elevation were brutal for construction of said lines 130 years or so ago. Even around Kamloops winter conditions are pretty tough. God speed.

Until I read this thread I had no idea any of this was happening. How on earth is this not the top headline in every US national news site? Google and you'll see the stories, but if you don't search it out, the major media outlets aren't giving this any attention at all. Just appalling.

Very sorry to hear about the severe flooding. We enjoyed our visits to BC, I can imagine areas in Okanagan Valley which would be flood prone. Losing bridges is a real problem. Here, when it floods, and it does, people get into trouble trying to drive on flooded roads, I hope everyone stays safe.
Best toughts for an early end to the adverse conditions and rectification repairs, and resuming a normal life.
Edit: Rereading the thread, I`m fortified in my decision to keep the OP on "Ignore", a course I invite others to consider.

This means much of shipping will be diverted (Pacific coast) to Seattle and ports south in California, BUT can they handle this extra traffic when the shipping and rail transportation in the States is so plugged up. This isn't a Canadian problem, its mostly ours, but it also affects the States big time. I will link to web sites, the CN rail network in Canada and the States, and CP's network into the States.

CN:
https://www.cn.ca/en/our-services/maps-and-network/

Notice the lines into various states. Containers would come into Vancouver, onto the CN line and look at how far south the CN line goes feeding goods from containers to many states, the same with CP but currently it isn't as extensive.

https://www.cpr.ca/en/choose-rail/network-and-facilities

If this had happened pre-Covid, the results would be bad. But now with Covid plugging the transportation system, this is worse.

The only way I can see this having a quick ending - a year to a year and a half - is to have construction/engineering crews brought in from the other provinces, who also rely on the BC transportation infrastructure.

The current state in BC is tragic. I have long standing connections with Canada and Canadians. Especially BC. My heart goes out to all who live there and are affected. As for the problems of BC or Canada not making US prime time news there's nothing new about that unfortunately.

Yes, US news coverage does focus almost exclusively on the US situation. (Tongue firmly in cheek), "we could be invaded by Russia over the North Pole, led by a bare chested Putin himself, and your news would not report it"
Back to the seriousness, yes BC is going to not only be hard pressed to find the engineering and especially the needed construction personnel for the many repairs, but starting all of this in our winter is going to be problematic from the perspective of our huge diversification of weather (ranging from relatively mild but very wet on the Coast, to sometimes heavy snow and freezing temps in the BC interior.
Our major Vancouver area farming area, Abbotsford, was almost totally underwater (major sections still are) with a loss of livestock and a big hit to our future food supply.
This definitely a multi-pronged whammy!! Thanks to those who have expressed concern. Much appreciated.

Just heard a news report here, that the Canadian military have been called in to help. Not surprising,a useful resource ticking over on idle, we deploy them when extra manpower is needed immediately in disaster events.

firehoser75 said:

Sorry Tom,
Here in BC, we have bigger fish to fry right now. Thousands of people are displaced from their homes and have no indication of when they will be able to return, and to what they will be returning to!!! Many gas stations are out of gas. Grocery stores are already out of many items like veggies and dairy! All of the major transportation methods and routes are impassable and could be for quite a while with many bridges collapsed! BC has declared a "State of Emergency" and rightly so!

This could end up being the costliest natural diaster in Canadian history, with impacts continuing for a long time to come (not to mention the already problem of "supply chain issues" before the floods), so sorry, we are not right now concerned with future debris that could affect our American friends when they "come north" on the water next spring (even if that does prove to be a bit of an "issue")!!!
Sorry to say it, but I find your post to be insensitive at best!!!
This is not meant as a personal attack, but it is directed at the wording and context of your post.

Click to expand...

Not intended to be insensitive.

Looking at the results of the storms on the marine part of the equation. BC will recover as they always do. BEERS are a hardy bunch of folks.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Not intended to be insensitive.

Looking at the results of the storms on the marine part of the equation. BC will recover as they always do. BEERS are a hardy bunch of folks.

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I have no idea who BEERS are but here's a word for you: contritian.

Is this marine enough for you?

Just a personal opinion, and not meant as a personal attack, but I did not find your attempt at "explanation" to be sensitive either. It did not exhibit any empathy or concern in my opinion. Sorry to say that, but that is what I "got" out of your 2 posts.

I am not saying you have to or even should feel these things, but you do seem to like coming here for visits and enjoying what we have to offer, so I would have guessed that this would cause some level of concern for your (Canadian) "friends" and neighbours and our infrastructure (facilities)?? I am not going to comment on this part of discussion here again, as I have made my thoughts and feelings known. I do not want this topic to be drawn down into a "chastising" of one of our members, so please, let's not go there. There are many aspects of ASD that I like and respect and hoped one day to meet him in person.



More, not great news, we are forecast to receive an additional (average) 4 inches of rain in the next few days, with some areas receiving a fair bit more. The military are desperately trying to repair a large section of the dykes near Sumas/Abbotsford.

Terrible mess, and just going into winter on top of everything else. The freeze up will make recovery even harder, shutting down much of the recovery until spring weather allows it again. We are experiencing colder than normal weather for this time of the season, and often our Alaska weather moves across from West to East over a few weeks time.

The one posted picture of a jet ski towing a cow is all I have seen in the news, I had no idea of the scope of the problem until opening this thread on the forum.

I will keep you all in my prayers!

firehoser75 said:

I did not find your attempt at "explanation" to be sensitive either.

Click to expand...

Firehoser, once again, I agree and thank you for your 'opinion." I too read the second post as rather callous, but knew I would hear about it if I said anything.

You needn't apologise.
"Having the opportunity to publicly correct misleading pieces is extremely helpful. If someone’s made an honest mistake, that’s fine. If someone’s being a lout, (I cleaned it up) then you need to just call them out."

I honestly don't understand the dysfunctional obsession with BC gossip.

Hopefully this will make it a little easier on our neighbors to source there needs down in the states.

Beginning Nov. 30, Canada will no longer require vaccinated Canadians to provide a negative COVID-19 test to re-enter the country within 72 hours of leaving. That means that vaccinated Canadians wishing to make the trip across the U.S. border for weekend shopping trips or to see family will no longer incur the hassle or have to pay up to $200 to receive a molecular test. News of the change was announced Friday, Nov. 19, in a release by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Read more at: https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/coronavirus/article255960452.html#storylink=cpy

dbles,
Yes, I am hopeful that our US friends will be able to help us out a bit allowing trucking routes to be used more, doing more cross border business, etc. and cross border shopping should be increased by these new Can. Government rules. I hope that the issues and damage in Washington State are not anywhere near as bad as they are here in BC.

Thanks everyone for your concern and good wishes.