Flooding on the Nechako - The Saga Continues
Trip Start
Apr 01, 2006
1
36
Trip End
Ongoing
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Sunday, January 27, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/user/TravelsWithLobo
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Flooding on the Nechako - There is No End in Sight
or
The Three-Pronged Attack on Mother Nature
On December 15, 2007, the day before we left for Hawaii, I blogged the extraordinary flooding which was taking place on the Nechako River.
A buildup of thick, stacked, jagged ice stretching five kilometers back from the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser Rivers effectively created a bottleneck impeding the flow of water down the Nechako. Since the water level is unable to rise due to the heavy cover of ice, it had no place to go but to overflow its banks.
The area most affected is the industrial park which is located along River Road.
In mid-December, the flood waters had covered River Road, thereby bringing two large businesses and employers - Brink Forest Products and Winton Global - to a standstill.
see Blog 35 : Flooding on the Nechako - Round 2 for the story and photos
In addition there were also low lying residential areas which had to be evacuated due to the flooding further west along the Nechako.
It was quite a story at the time and I was surprised to hear that upon our return on January 11, 2008 from Hawaii, it was still the top story.
Since our return, the situation has gotten even worse with the ice jam now reaching back for 15 kilometers posing an even greater threat.
In Blog 8: Nechanko River - Cross Country Skiing - January 17, 2007, I posted some interesting photos of what the Nechako River looked like - almost exactly a year ago.
As the photos show, the river was partly frozen with absolutely no unusual buildup of ice. Also quite evident is the abundance of open water which allowed the Nechako River to flow freely into the Fraser River.
My cross-country ski outing along the Nechako a year ago was beautiful and the level of the river was of no concern.
The same could not be said in Blog 23, posted June 2007, when both the Nechako and the Fraser Rivers overflowed their banks. This flooding was due to melting of unusually large snow packs accumulated in the mountains hundreds of kilometers to the west and east.
The latest flooding is unprecedented in its scope and capacity to inflict damage. As I said, due to extremely low temperatures, the ice continues to build up further west on the Nechako, creating a greater threat to the area. Furthermore, damage could be devastating in the spring when the massive accumulation of ice melts.
It should be mentioned that the Fraser River is flowing nicely. If the ice in the Nechako would only move along, it would be carried away easily by the Fraser River.
The authorities have been pressured to "do something".
Their responses which I would describe as the equivalent of Don Quixote "tilting at windmills" are as follows:
Solution No. 1
Run a large water pipe from a nearby city well to the middle of the Cameron Street Bridge. From here, the water is dumped into the river with the intention of melting the ice.
Theory:
The well water which is above freezing will have the result of breaking up the ice. I looked several days ago and while there is a short stretch of open water now, it is far too little to have the intended effect.
Solution No. 2
Spend $375,000 (paid for by PEP - the Provincial Emergency Program) to get 10 days worth of work out of an amphibious excavator called an Amphibex.
It is like a huge, floating back hoe with stabilizers. Its shovel is intended to break up the thick ice and open up a channel near the mouth of the Fraser permitting more water to run off.
The Amphibex, of which there are apparently only three in Canada, had to be shipped from Montreal.
http://www.publiquip.com/News/Amphibex-Excavator.htm
The strategy has been to slowly work upstream to create a narrow channel along the Nechako from the confluence with the Fraser River.
.
While it is difficult to see from shore, the operation has all the appearance and futility of a gnat on an elephant.
The resulting narrow short channel will have little or no effect on this massive ice jam which now extends 15 kilometers upstream. Furthermore the contract was for 10 days which are just about up at this point.
Solution No. 3
This is a solution which should be operational shortly.
It involves running hot water through a pipe system from the nearby Canfor Intercon Pulp Mill onto the ice.
Contrary to the well water, this water will be hot - but for how long?
In a touch of irony, just as I was writing this, Barbara interjected from the living room with the following information:
The present temperature is -21 deg. C with a windchill of -34 C. Tonight the temperature will go to -32 C with a windchill of -48 C to which she added "all the work that they have done on the river is probably all for naught" (she has no idea that I am writing this blog at this moment).
With the Amphibex now working 24 hours a day, it must be grim out there on the Nechako River in the middle of the night. If they stop for a long lunch, they may be frozen in at these temperatures.
Solution No. 4
Sorry, there are four solutions offered for this area. This one I would not classify into the "Don Quixote tilting at windmills" category.
It is just about completed and it involved building a berm or elevated road along River Road.
As my photos show, River Road which was completely flooded on December 15, 2007, now is an elevated road built on a berm which allowed for pumping to decrease the level of the water.
Brink Forest Products and Winton Global still remain closed even though the road is now open.
There is some debate as to the conjuncture of events. Was it the flooding that led to the long term closing of these two forestry plants or was it the state of the economy? Due to the collapse of the housing market in the United States, there has been a serious reduction of activity in the BC forestry industry leading to the closure of several production plants.
Suffice it to say that we have a crisis here of unprecedented proportions with the final outcome still in doubt.
While the situation is serious for the businesses and the residences close to the river, the city of Prince George is not threatened.
We live close enough to the Nechako River to see its beautiful banks or escarpment from our home, but it would take the second sin-flood for water to reach where we live.
The flooding is definitely confined to flood plains along the Nechako.
How it all plays out once the melting starts may be the reason for another blog.
Just in case you may be wondering the option of using dynamite was rejected due to the damage it may cause to aquatic life.
