Coast Mountain News Thursday, October 27, 2011
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$1.00 + HST Vol. 27 | No. 21 Thursday, October 27, 2011 1
Serving the Bella Coola Valley llley lle ey and the Chilcotin
Chris Czajkowski Gives first Writers' Workshop
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Mike Wigle photo
In this section of the Bella Coola River near North Grant Road, hundreds of square metres of riverbank have been washed away in the 2011 flood event. This is just one of the areas of the Valley that has been affected by the changing river pathway.
Emergency management and mitigation: Past, present, and future BY CHRISTINA BOUCHER Emergency management in the Bella Coola Valley, as well as on the Central Coast in general, has become a topic of increasing interest
for residents affected by emergency events in the past few years. The most notable of recent emergency events have been the fires of 2009 and 2010 and the floods of 2010 and 2011. As of 2004, the provincial govern-
ment passed legislation that gave responsibility and control for carrying out emergency management to local governments. At the same time, control over dispersing resources was maintained by the provincial gov-
ernment. Respective roles of government in emergency management are defined by the British Columbia Emergency Response Management System (BCERMS), which you can learn more about at http://www.
pep.bc.ca/bcerms. The lack of integration of these roles has long been a complaint of the Central Coast Regional District (CCRD). Locally, the CCRD emergency program is mandated to prepare for, respond to,
and assist in recovery from serious emergency events. Included in preparedness is the mitigation of emergency events; indeed, a current point of interest for many Valley residents is flood mitigation. Looking at the flood history illuminates the current state of such mitigation. As of September 2010, the CCRD was actively co-facilitating a planning group called the Bella Coola Valley Bedload Working Group that was addressing the serious issues surrounding Thorsen Creek as the first step towards management programs for all area streams. Community consultations had been held for the residents affected by Thorsen Creek, and it was intended that a model be developed and then copied to other stream systems. Emergency Program Coordinator for the CCRD Stephen Waugh notes: “The recovery efforts that followed the 2010 flood of record were such that the immediate threat to property and infrastructure that was presented by Thorsen, Snootli, and Klonnik Creeks was somewhat diminished, albeit temporarily, and our attentions were directed elsewhere to other serious flood-related concerns such as eroding dikes, streambanks and channel changes throughout the valley. “Furthermore, the effects of the 2010 flood were only just being assessed when the September 2011 flood occurred. At this point we're assessing further changes to area streams and attempting to prioritize issues according to their individual mer-
its. “This includes doing an analysis of the critical infrastructure and other values such as residential, recreational and environmental assets that are threatened by any particular flooding situation as well as the potential likelihood of the event occurring. This information will assist in directing lobby efforts and any potential funding to the areas deemed most at risk and of significant value to the communities.” Previous to the flood event of September 23, 2011, the CCRD noted areas of particular concern of the Nusatsum alluvial fan as well as the upper and lower Hagensborg dikes and the gap between them. Waugh notes, “The upper Hagensborg Dike suffered considerable damage and we’re effecting access to the damaged area and seeking assistance for meaningful repairs. The Nusatsum River has eroded considerable sections on both sides and several homes have increased threat as a result. No specific mitigation plans have been finalized, although we have preliminary planning concepts for bedload gravel removal from the Nusatsum River fan.” The CCRD has also called out for Central Coast residents to provide information about damage occurring to their properties as a result of the 2011 flooding. CCRD Chief Administrative Officer Joy Mackay explains, “This request was for purposes of gathering and maintaining statistical informaSEE
FLOOD
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