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

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

Up to 275 trapped on Highway 7, near Agassiz, B.C., since Sunday evening​


Captain John Gormick of Vancouver's Heavy Urban Search And Rescue team spoke with CBC News about the efforts made so far in assisting travellers trapped in their vehicles by landslides that occurred Sunday on Highway 7 near Agassiz, B.C., about 125 kilometres east of Vancouver. 5:47

Rescue efforts by helicopter are underway after two mudslides trapped hundreds of people on a southern B.C. highway while an assessment has started to determine if others may have ended up in the flow of debris.

The landslides, which occurred on Sunday on Highway 7 near Agassiz, B.C., about 125 kilometres east of Vancouver, came as communities in southern parts of the province dealt with heavy rainfall.

As many as 275 people, among them 50 children, have been trapped on the stretch of highway since Sunday evening, the City of Vancouver and Canada Task Force 1, the locally based urban search and rescue team, said in a joint release.

It says they were joined by Chilliwack Search and Rescue and a geotechnical engineer to survey the area for anyone who may be trapped in the debris.

Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopters started the first of multiple rescue flights on Monday, transporting evacuees between the slide area and a reception centre in nearby Agassiz.

 
Apparently, most gasoline delivered to the island comes through Nanaimo, and is then distributed along the Malahat highway. So bigger second order effects are still to come.
 
Apparently, most gasoline delivered to the island comes through Nanaimo, and is then distributed along the Malahat highway. So bigger second order effects are still to come.
Worse. The power is out at Costco.
 
Apparently the entire Lower Mainland (Vancouver metro and maybe an hour east) is cut off by land from the rest of Canada. All the highways are blocked, a few sections of same are literally destroyed. The rail lines are also inoperable.

This is actually a calamity, it’s just going to take a couple days for that to sink in.
 
Apparently the entire Lower Mainland (Vancouver metro and maybe an hour east) is cut off by land from the rest of Canada. All the highways are blocked, a few sections of same are literally destroyed. The rail lines are also inoperable.

This is actually a calamity, it’s just going to take a couple days for that to sink in.

I see what you did there.

Merritt is under water and evacuated, again, for the second time this year.

Vancouver Island is crippled too and roads are out all over. Some places had about 10 inches of rain in 2 days.

About 50,000 people are without power across the province Outage list

This is turning out to be yet another 'weather event of the Century'.
 
Apparently the entire Lower Mainland (Vancouver metro and maybe an hour east) is cut off by land from the rest of Canada. All the highways are blocked, a few sections of same are literally destroyed. The rail lines are also inoperable.

This is actually a calamity, it’s just going to take a couple days for that to sink in.
Maybe 1 CER is about to get some real world bridge training…
 
Maybe 1 CER is about to get some real world bridge training…

Too bad they moved them out of Chilliwack

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In some cases there are a few of these major washouts in serial on the same highway. They’ll need to fix one enough to start moving heavy equipment to the next. This is going to have long lasting impacts. I can’t meaningfully guess the supply chain ramifications of this for the interior… A whole lot probably comes in by ship to Vancouver.
 
In some cases there are a few of these major washouts in serial on the same highway. They’ll need to fix one enough to start moving heavy equipment to the next. This is going to have long lasting impacts. I can’t meaningfully guess the supply chain ramifications of this for the interior… A whole lot probably comes in by ship to Vancouver.
That pretty much wipes out the Port of Vancouver as the import/export center for the next 6 months. I hope Prince Rupert is feeling fiesty…
 
Does Prince Rupert offer reliable rail service to Alberta and major crane service to lift the containers off?
 
Does Prince Rupert offer reliable rail service to Alberta and major crane service to lift the containers off?
There is a line from Prince Rupert to Jasper, and from there to Edmonton, but it's capacity at the port, seems limited via google maps.
 
Captain John Gormick of Vancouver's Heavy Urban Search And Rescue team


, the City of Vancouver and Canada Task Force 1, the locally based urban search and rescue team, said in a joint release.
Good thing they did not defund it.

 
So 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).
 
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