BC Storm

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by opendoor

The gas hoarding is because of how fuel is distributed on Vancouver Island. None of it comes into Victoria by ship; it's all delivered up island and then delivered by truck. So when the highway was closed north of Victoria, people panicked thinking that Victoria was cut off. But as with basically any irrational hoarding, the only real shortage was due to increased demand. The highway is back open for single lane alternating traffic so fuel trucks can still get through.

Not to mention the Pacific Marine loop has been opened since the day after the storm. It's just gonna take a couple extra hours to get here.plus BCferries is running a goods ferry from Nanaimo to swartz Bay now as well.


Humans as a group are weak and frail bunch with little to no control over their emotions. Lemmings.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by D as in David

I know it is still really early but have there been any preliminary estimates out there on the total cost to rebuild the infrastructure in BC?

2013 study ball parked a major flood would cause $20-30B. But I think the areas damaged are larger than the study area as well.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1460861126065852416

Getting things back to ‘normal’ will be expensive enough, never mind future proofing against future events.

[Leondros]

Originally Posted by D as in David

I know it is still really early but have there been any preliminary estimates out there on the total cost to rebuild the infrastructure in BC?

No one will have a handle on that number for a while. For reference the 2013 Alberta floods costs $5B in property damage. Hurricane Katrina was $81B in property but over $150M when factoring in economic damage.

The economic damage of this is going to be quite significant let alone all of the property and infrastructure damage. It will make the Alberta floods look like the price of a Costco hotdog in relation.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by sleepingmoose

Hopefully the state of emergency allows them to bypass the normal procurement protocols to get these things fixed more quickly for some sort of traffic setup, but I'm thinking it's still not going to be back to "normal" for years.

Alberta has much to offer if needed. Tons of heavy equipment, trucks, and accomodatiopn trailers from the oilpatch are probalby available. Just not sure we have the personell available to run them which obviously woudl be an issue.

[Nyah]

So I'm thinking it's probably a good time to do that Costco run I've been procrastinating about. That damage is insane. What was the repair time/turnaround when HWY 1 was washed out in 2013 by Canmore? BC's repairs are going to be far, far more difficult but hopefully the main roads can get patched up to allow at least some traffic soon. Yikes.

[hwy19man]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

#1 and #5 could be closed for a very long time.

Originally Posted by sleepingmoose

Hopefully the state of emergency allows them to bypass the normal procurement protocols to get these things fixed more quickly for some sort of traffic setup, but I'm thinking it's still not going to be back to "normal" for years.

The various trucking companies are talking with US customs in expediting passage across the border so trucks carrying vital goods can use Stevens, Snoqualmie, and White passes in Washington State.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by Nyah

So I'm thinking it's probably a good time to do that Costco run I've been procrastinating about. That damage is insane. What was the repair time/turnaround when HWY 1 was washed out in 2013 by Canmore? BC's repairs are going to be far, far more difficult but hopefully the main roads can get patched up to allow at least some traffic soon. Yikes.

There are no estimates because it's really hard to know this early on. Anyone giving estimates are just spitballing at this point (and there are some hysterics on social media you should just ignore), but I think it was mentioned earlier in this thread that it was a few weeks to fix the Trans Canada by Canmore in 2013. They can move fast when they want to.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Nyah

So I'm thinking it's probably a good time to do that Costco run I've been procrastinating about. That damage is insane. What was the repair time/turnaround when HWY 1 was washed out in 2013 by Canmore? BC's repairs are going to be far, far more difficult but hopefully the main roads can get patched up to allow at least some traffic soon. Yikes.

Hwy 1 at Canmore didn’t wash out any bridges. It was also summer time, so long hours of daylight, and no frozen ground.

I think they had it operating to some extent within a couple days.

For the coquihalla, there appears to be 5-6? Bridges washed out, the days are short, the ground could be frozen, and because it’s destroyed in multiple places, you may have to somewhat fix one area before you can even get the proper equipment in to fix the next one. Dealing with winter snow when doing that kind of work is a nightmare.

For highway 1, for example where the rail and highway crossed on those pictures, I don’t even know where to begin. How do you fill in that much dirt on the steep slope and have it stable? Especially in winter?

They may have to remove that rail bridge and rebuild, the foundations are undermined.

I’ve seen other pictures of the train tracks just hanging in the air for a a couple hundred feet, you almost have to build a new bridge instead if trying to fill it back in.

There’s lot of experts that would know much more than I would, but if I had to guess, temporary, reduced access on #5 in a month, full restoration of lanes in a year.

If I had to guess, temporary access on Hwy 1 maybe by summer, full restoration of lanes in 3 years.

[burn_this_city]

On #5 losing the abutment and having the deck fall into the river is a long term rebuild, doubtful you can't reuse that span. That #1 Tank hill bridge is a total loss, even the rail line with the exposed pilings is probably a write off. I don't know if the Army Engineers have some temporary bridge spans, but those might be the only hope for any sort of speedy reopening. Maybe they can source something pre-cast spans from other projects. Things looks incredibly bleak from those photos and the time of year we're in.

[You Need a Thneed]

In addition to what I said there, temporary access could be a bumpy narrow gravel road with a 30kmh speed limit. They will want to build a temporary route beside each destroyed bridge, which means something that can be easily removed again later, so they won’t get too fancy.

The problem with highway 1 is that there’s no place to put a temporary road that’s not in the way of trying to do a full repair.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

My question is more about how long it'll take Abbotsford to get... er, drained. At the very least to allow normal transport as far as Hope. Right now it's just emergency routes.

They might be able to come up with some alternate detour to work around the section in Lytton that's destroyed... probably not for regular traffic but at least some way to make it possible to get through.

[afc wimbledon]

I suspect they will get temp fixes in quite quickly, five or six galvanised tunnels and 300 dump trucks of gravel across a stream doesnt take long, its not particularly enviromentally friendly but my guess is that will be quietly passed without question

[opendoor]

They're looking to get temporary bridges to install, but even that's expected to take months given the conditions.

Repairs to the Coquihalla Highway connecting B.C.’s Lower Mainland and the Interior are expected to take months.

The provincial government confirmed the news Thursday, saying the stretch between Hope and Merritt contains five areas that have been hit hard by the rain, flooding and mudslides following the storm.

Initial damage assessments have been completed, Paula Cousins, regional executive director at the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, said at a media briefing. However, even temporary repairs are going to take months.

Sections of the Coquihalla Highway have been snapped in two and complete sections have been washed away. The province has already begun sourcing temporary Bailey Bridges across North America.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8385471/r...ning-timeline/

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by opendoor

They're looking to get temporary bridges to install, but even that's expected to take months given the conditions.

Quarry spalls and arch culverts should be enough to get them up and running. Reduced speeds of course.

That would buy them time to complete engineering and procurement in time for spring breakup.

I wonder what design standard the Coq was built to and what they would design the replacement for the failed portions to. 1 in 100? 200?

[PeteMoss]

I was reading about how the coldwater river in Merritt now has a completely new channel and is flowing down what used to be a street in the town. Not sure what you do in that situation. Are you just screwed if you lived on this street?

[shogged]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

I suspect they will get temp fixes in quite quickly, five or six galvanised tunnels and 300 dump trucks of gravel across a stream doesnt take long, its not particularly enviromentally friendly but my guess is that will be quietly passed without question

i agree with you. I think these timelines for the temporary fixes are very pessimistic. its not going to be pretty, but no chance the lower mainland stays cut off for "Months" as has been suggested.

[FlamesAddiction]

The good news is that the western edge of the flood has receded and thousands of people on alert to possibly evacuate have now been taken off alert. The flood also came within about 30 m of a large fertilizer storage facility before receding and avoided the environmental impacts that would have come with that.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

I was reading about how the coldwater river in Merritt now has a completely new channel and is flowing down what used to be a street in the town. Not sure what you do in that situation. Are you just screwed if you lived on this street?

I've moved rivers before, time consuming job but really not that hard

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

I was reading about how the coldwater river in Merritt now has a completely new channel and is flowing down what used to be a street in the town. Not sure what you do in that situation. Are you just screwed if you lived on this street?

Sit back and enjoy the property value increase of your new riverfront property?

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by shogged

i agree with you. I think these timelines for the temporary fixes are very pessimistic. its not going to be pretty, but no chance the lower mainland stays cut off for "Months" as has been suggested.

Highway 3 is likely reopening for essential travel this weekend, so it won't be cut off. But with a bunch of repair sites (most of which can't be accessed by machines until other damaged areas are made passable), even temporary fixes on the Coquihalla are going to take a while.