I moved from Calgary to the lower mainland a few years ago and this is just hard to watch. On the good side, both me and my family are safe and sound and will likely stay that way. On the other hand, this is just really hard to watch. I’ve driven through that whole Sumas farm area countless times as a scenic route because it’s near me. I have acquaintances there but nobody really close. One is a winery now ironically named Ripples. Also, the Harrison/Agassiz is my favourite area for camping and other outdoor activities. When my partner and I had days off we went that way about 4 times about week or so before the mayhem hit and the two mudslides trapped the 100 cars on highway 7 there.
And also, a bit of a rant… The first time I went through the Sumas prairie and read about the history of Sumas lake and that current pump stationed, I immediately facepalmed and said “Are you freaking kidding me?” I told my partner “ Its almost guaranteed Sumas lake will be back bigger than ever within the next 20 years.” The second facepalm was when the floods happened and I read all about the major flood planning all levels of government were already working on, yet they left that crucial Barrowtown pump station sitting there vulnerable to this year’s flood levels. It’s the equivalent of the Oilers trading Leon for defensive or goaltending help. I can’t think of a more crucial piece of infrastructure for this flood. Thank goodness they were able to keep it up and running or the trouble would have been large magnitudes worse there. It seems those meetings were about as effective as Trump’s covid meetings.
When will governments learn that risk goes away when you identify it AND act on it appropriately. It doesn’t go away when you ignore it or have a zillion meetings but fail to act. That’s just gambling and pretending to acknowledge the risk. The definition of insanity should be expanded to include always doing the same thing and never expecting different results. Then the definition would contain two opposite statements and make more sense than the standard knuckle-dragger “definition of insanity”.
Here’s an article I ran across today. The more you learn about the Sumas prairie, the more you just have to scratch your head. It was considered a feat of engineering 100 years ago. Mother Nature tends try to reclaim her territory every so often, but politicians only think 1-4 years ahead, always trying to kick the can down the road. Governments are by default as ineffectual as Ron Swanson would tell you.
A human mistake — Why the B.C. floods are not a climate change issue