4 ms·

I mean, it was a ton of unexpected rain, and as far as I know, the only danger was caused by the flooding itself rather than any sort of supply shortages. I sus

by ksdale 5y ago

I mean, it was a ton of unexpected rain, and as far as I know, the only danger was caused by the flooding itself rather than any sort of supply shortages. I suspect that rather than serve as a warning of our inability to solve problems, it will turn out to have been such a non-problem (relative to the amount of damage that happened) that it will be completely forgotten in 10 years.

bryanrasmussen 5y ago
>I mean, it was a ton of unexpected rain, I thought that was the point of climate change, that there will lots of 'tons of unexpected' climate events happening?
- ksdale 5y ago
  I was responding to the assertion that it was a "little" rain, rather than that it was unexpected.
  - bryanrasmussen 5y ago
    sorry, my mistake.
vkou 5y ago
> the only danger was caused by the flooding itself rather than any sort of supply shortages. There was no danger to Vancouver. It's a port city, that could always be supplied by I-5. There was a lot of danger to Chilliwack, if Highway 1 could not be saved (Which, thankfully, did not turn out to be the case). My parents live in Chilliwack. It was a really scary week for them, between their need for prescription medication and animal feed.
- ksdale 5y ago
  I'm sorry your parents had to go through that, it sounds quite harrowing. I feel like this is equally evidence for incredible preparedness and flexibility though? The fact that such a major event was only scary for a week seems like a good thing? Even in a perfect world, there will be extreme weather events, and if people can't survive a week in their homes without outside help, that seems like the problem rather than evidence that we can't adapt to disaster. I assume your parents will be sure to stock up on certain essentials going forward.
  - vkou 5y ago
    > The fact that such a major event was only scary for a week seems like a good thing? It was scary for a week because they were down to a single remaining point of failure (Abbotsford pumping station). If that station failed (which was quite possible, due to rising floodwaters), the Fraser river would have flooded the valley, and Highway 1 would have been... Gone. Not 'flooded for a week', but 'flooded permanently'. On the other side of the city, mudslides destroyed bridges on the Coquihalla highway - which will take at least 2 months to be made passable - and things won't be back to normal for another year. Had the pumping station failed, and the highway flooded, it's entirely unclear what anyone could have done in that situation to keep Chilliwack supplied over the next two months.
    - jessaustin 5y ago
      In that event, would the town itself not have been threatened with flooding?
    - lazide 5y ago
      Correct me if I’m wrong, but Canada has helicopters, a functional military, and Allies no? Certainly folks could be evacuated or supplied with essentials if it came to that. They did so as far away as Afghanistan. It would require some adjustment and dealing with adversity, but your comment makes it sound like everyone would starve to death and be found having eaten each other or something if the roads were out for a week.
earleybird 5y ago
'Unexpected' is a relative term in this case. I remember the same area flooding back around 1990. The Sumas Prairie is a recent construct. Circa 1924 Sumas lake (seasonal lake to be sure) was drained for farmland and the area experiences flooding on this scale in something like a 35 year period - So, not even a 50 year or 100 yr weather conditions (or sequence of weather events). Since the 1990 flood there have been efforts to improve the ability to withstand known current weather events, but that proceeds at the bureaucratic pace you might expect when dealing with municipal/provincial/federal/indigenous governing bodies.

by ksdale 5y ago

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

>I mean, it was a ton of unexpected rain, I thought that was the point of climate change, that there will lots of 'tons of unexpected' climate events happening?

ksdale 5y ago
I was responding to the assertion that it was a "little" rain, rather than that it was unexpected.
- bryanrasmussen 5y ago
  sorry, my mistake.

vkou 5y ago

> the only danger was caused by the flooding itself rather than any sort of supply shortages. There was no danger to Vancouver. It's a port city, that could always be supplied by I-5. There was a lot of danger to Chilliwack, if Highway 1 could not be saved (Which, thankfully, did not turn out to be the case). My parents live in Chilliwack. It was a really scary week for them, between their need for prescription medication and animal feed.

ksdale 5y ago
I'm sorry your parents had to go through that, it sounds quite harrowing. I feel like this is equally evidence for incredible preparedness and flexibility though? The fact that such a major event was only scary for a week seems like a good thing? Even in a perfect world, there will be extreme weather events, and if people can't survive a week in their homes without outside help, that seems like the problem rather than evidence that we can't adapt to disaster. I assume your parents will be sure to stock up on certain essentials going forward.
- vkou 5y ago
  > The fact that such a major event was only scary for a week seems like a good thing? It was scary for a week because they were down to a single remaining point of failure (Abbotsford pumping station). If that station failed (which was quite possible, due to rising floodwaters), the Fraser river would have flooded the valley, and Highway 1 would have been... Gone. Not 'flooded for a week', but 'flooded permanently'. On the other side of the city, mudslides destroyed bridges on the Coquihalla highway - which will take at least 2 months to be made passable - and things won't be back to normal for another year. Had the pumping station failed, and the highway flooded, it's entirely unclear what anyone could have done in that situation to keep Chilliwack supplied over the next two months.
  - jessaustin 5y ago
    In that event, would the town itself not have been threatened with flooding?
  - lazide 5y ago
    Correct me if I’m wrong, but Canada has helicopters, a functional military, and Allies no? Certainly folks could be evacuated or supplied with essentials if it came to that. They did so as far away as Afghanistan. It would require some adjustment and dealing with adversity, but your comment makes it sound like everyone would starve to death and be found having eaten each other or something if the roads were out for a week.

earleybird 5y ago

'Unexpected' is a relative term in this case. I remember the same area flooding back around 1990. The Sumas Prairie is a recent construct. Circa 1924 Sumas lake (seasonal lake to be sure) was drained for farmland and the area experiences flooding on this scale in something like a 35 year period - So, not even a 50 year or 100 yr weather conditions (or sequence of weather events). Since the 1990 flood there have been efforts to improve the ability to withstand known current weather events, but that proceeds at the bureaucratic pace you might expect when dealing with municipal/provincial/federal/indigenous governing bodies.