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Helicopters start rescue efforts after landslide traps hundreds on B.C. highway

Well the locals have found a solution
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So a buddy I work with is from Merritt and grew up on a farm there. According to him, there have been a lot of new developments going up right in the prime flood plain region (where have we seen that before tsktsk).

His Parents of course are doing great, their farm house situated well above the water line. 🙂

Similar situation to many places across the Country. My Mother grew up outside Fredericton, NB and always laughs at all the folks complaining about the flooding there because it's been doing it well, since.... forever. It's just that people never used to build houses right on the flood plain.
 
So a buddy I work with is from Merritt and grew up on a farm there. According to him, there have been a lot of new developments going up right in the prime flood plain region (where have we seen that before tsktsk).

His Parents of course are doing great, their farm house situated well above the water line. 🙂

Similar situation to many places across the Country. My Mother grew up outside Fredericton, NB and always laughs at all the folks complaining about the flooding there because it's been doing it well, since.... forever. It's just that people never used to build houses right on the flood plain.
Same thing happened in Alberta in 2013, we don't learn our lessons, and development makes the flooding worse as we clear trees and natural barriers.
 
There is also the rail line from Prince George (?) to North Vancouver - former BC Rail - although I don't know its current condition. It has been under restrictions for train length/weight due to its alignment.
 
So a buddy I work with is from Merritt and grew up on a farm there. According to him, there have been a lot of new developments going up right in the prime flood plain region (where have we seen that before tsktsk).

His Parents of course are doing great, their farm house situated well above the water line. 🙂

Similar situation to many places across the Country. My Mother grew up outside Fredericton, NB and always laughs at all the folks complaining about the flooding there because it's been doing it well, since.... forever. It's just that people never used to build houses right on the flood plain.
Also, unless BC works differently, you can't get flood insurance if you build on a floodplain.

So...OP LENTUS, anyone?
 
F2A2B85A-78D9-45C8-9A2C-769E1D87AAC8.jpegSo far I only know of 2 washouts: Hwy 5 (Othello Br, which is east of Hope still on the valley bottom), and Hwy 1 (Tank Hill rail overpass, which is in Thompson River canyon east of Lytton. Supposedly Hwy 5 washout is only the southbound (2) lanes, which in principle means a little work could re-open two-way traffic (1 lane each using northbound lanes).

Remaining events all seem to primarily be mud slides. Sunshine Valley on Hwy 3 (not far east of Hope) is site of the 1965 Hope slide (a big one); it's a fairly flat valley with a meandering stream so my guess is that the flood plain has flooded. Princeton (Hwy 3/5A) has flooding in its flood plain. So no routes through Hwy 3. Hwy 99 somewhere south of Lillooet has a problem, so no route via Pemberton. (There is a route from Pemberton over the mountains to Gold Bridge and thence to Lillooet, and I think it isn't affected, but you need a bit of ground clearance for the track leading over the mountains from Pemberton to Gold Bridge.)

If mud slides on Hwy 1 and Hwy 11 (either side of Fraser R) are cleared, routes are open to Hope again. Still need to fix one of Hwy 1, 3, 5. Tank Hill washout looks like no easy work-arounds. Once rain subsides, flooded areas reopen. Currently not raining (mostly clear tonight).

Alternate routes via US are feasible. Commercial traffic can certainly use US highways to get to border crossing at Osoyoos (Hwy 3 and 97).
More nuanced info than I had, thanks Brad.

This is 5 at the Coquihalla River. Safe to say this will not be the route reopening fastest. The one you mentioned about southbound lane only is elsewhere.

Hopefully when waters recede, 1 and/or 3 just need to be cleared off.

The slide on 99 between Lillooet and Pemberton is pretty bad, though that’s from a buddy out there who is aware of the scene but can’t speak to the engineering side. Big and bad slide at least.

I would be surprised if the alternate mountain routes north are passable given the slides everywhere else, but who knows? I doubt anyone other than locals has even been able to check yet.

CP and CN both have major problems.

The ports were already struggling. This is gonna be rest-of-Canada bad for supply chain I think.

Where does our Asia-bound grain ship out of? And does that continue through the winter?
 
Where does our Asia-bound grain ship out of? And does that continue through the winter?
What’s old will be new again. Send it out of TBay and chuff it through Panama, and add a bit to the price to offset. That is, until the NWP opens up, then fire it up North out of Churchill…
 
If only Canada had more Chinooks...
Oh and a real utility helicopter ;)
 
The whole issue of drastic military cutbacks and closing down major regional presence is coming to bite us in the backside…engineering capability in particular, especially where the domestic need is most likely.
 
The ports were already struggling. This is gonna be rest-of-Canada bad for supply chain I think.

Where does our Asia-bound grain ship out of? And does that continue through the winter?
Prince Rupert!

 
What’s old will be new again. Send it out of TBay and chuff it through Panama, and add a bit to the price to offset. That is, until the NWP opens up, then fire it up North out of Churchill…
Nope, can’t use Churchill. That line is closed for the next two seasons to rebuild the track bed.
 
Nope, can’t use Churchill. That line is closed for the next two seasons to rebuild the track bed.
👍🏼 Just remembered that…out TBay for now then. Plus, Churchill was more a longer term, “once the NWP is open” type of thing.
 
More nuanced info than I had, thanks Brad.

This is 5 at the Coquihalla River. Safe to say this will not be the route reopening fastest. The one you mentioned about southbound lane only is elsewhere.

Hopefully when waters recede, 1 and/or 3 just need to be cleared off.

The slide on 99 between Lillooet and Pemberton is pretty bad, though that’s from a buddy out there who is aware of the scene but can’t speak to the engineering side. Big and bad slide at least.

I would be surprised if the alternate mountain routes north are passable given the slides everywhere else, but who knows? I doubt anyone other than locals has even been able to check yet.

CP and CN both have major problems.

The ports were already struggling. This is gonna be rest-of-Canada bad for supply chain I think.

Where does our Asia-bound grain ship out of? And does that continue through the winter?
CN and CP will have the rail line operational again in short order, they repaired the train bridge that was totally engulfed by fire in Lytton, BC in just over 13 days. The roads will be more problematic as the Government(s) will dither.
 
CN and CP will have the rail line operational again in short order, they repaired the train bridge that was totally engulfed by fire in Lytton, BC in just over 13 days. The roads will be more problematic as the Government(s) will dither.
Might take a bit longer this time, but yes they will fix it before the roads are open for sure. The back log this is creating though will take some time in order to fix.
 
Because where life and limb is at stake, along with the most complex geo-technical engineering challenges imaginable, it's best to If the RegF doesn't want to do it, pass that task on to the reserves, right? ;)
If forced to do it, the solution would be to give DART a couple of extra shovels.
 
Because where life and limb is at stake, along with the most complex geo-technical engineering challenges imaginable, it's best to pass that task on to the reserves, right? ;)
They'll put in 1000% more staff effort mobilizing the Reserves than if they'd just called 1 CER and given them a set of verbal orders over them phone.
 
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