When the Waters Rise (Part 2): Priorities and choices in BC's Lower Mainland 

What’s maddening about this is that this report is from a year ago and that previous floods haven’t created the type of action plan needed to deal with what we are experiencing today November 2021. While we can’t control the weather they were so many other mitigating actions that could’ve taken place prior knowing that the current flood was possible. The problem with governments is that they all prefer to kick major problems down the road for someone else to deal with instead of being proactive and dealing with things upfront regardless of whether the entire population is on board or not.

Its interesting how they predicted a 1/500 chance of it happening but only in SPRING! Not right before winter... what are the odds?

" and ultimately, put it into ACTION"

meanwhile we just approved logging more old growth in watershed areas on the Vancouver Island. Now that's what I call taking action!

The area where sumas lake sat in the 20's has sunk 20' due to subsidence. That means less water needed to flood just as bad now. Just like in California, Corcoran valley used to be a giant lake that they drained and the land has sunk 26' in the years since. Land will continue to sink and thus making flooding more prominent unfortunately.

Knowing that there were strategies in place, I'm thankful that it must have helped to some degree, but now we know more was needed!

Having lots of meetings and plans, but no one actually warning people before it was too late.

Well no one paid attention. Such a shame.

They drained the Sumas Sea. Live in the sea bed , then complain when the water take back it's place.

Well, the current situation confirms what they said. Is there a future for the farms in the lower mainland if they predict a 39% flood increase?

so the answer is a new lake put in it's place by possibly a Dam purely there to mitigate flooding

This autumnal bc flooding was Caused by the removal of Sumas lake

The NDP Government needs to take infrastructure upgrades more seriously!! All of this was known for the Great Flood of Nov 2021!!

It's really officially the time,... to take the actions 🎬 stay safe 🙏 everyone

Well , they have been trying to bring down the real estate prices. This should do it.

. Most of this land we have along bodies of water should be public use land. The people living there wouldn't help me when my children wanted to go hiking along the river, so i feel the same way back at them, too bad, and leave us alone, figure it out for yourself they told my family...

I wish you all the best.

Why doesn't the government just ban floods?

Don't buy land on a steep hill or a flood plain. Floods, earthquakes and landslides hate this one simple trick. Maybe we should allow our floodplain farmlands to flood. We could get some of that natural fertalizer while also taking pressure off cities built on floodplain

Tbh this flood is a wake up call for what's to come.

Oops, not done soon enough

This part 2 repeats too many points in part 1.

And now it has happened. Not action, but BC's reaction. Sad!!!!

a day late and a dollar short.

Climate change is a natural phenomenon that you fail to include in this story.We have active volcanoes all over the world right now which cause alot of climate scenarios.Then we have the moon which controls our ocean tides.Mother nature can't be controlled.This flood will happen again.We also just had the longest eclipse in 600 years.I hope people are able to recover from this tragedy.

Lessons learned stop studying and start acting. And on another note why is the new st pauls hospital getting built in a flood zone.

Interesting contrast between here in B.C. where we've left ourselves completely vulnerable to flooding and Japan where they have invested billions to protect major urban areas utilizing world class engineering such as seen here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Rp2l6nFIsZA.html

Or 2021!!!

Sounds like a large ball was dropped. All talk and no action doesn't work. Shame on the provincial government of BC. This catastrophic event could have not necessarily been avoided but surely could have had a better outcome. I am so sorry for the people of British Columbia, especially the Indigenous people who have been treated like garbage for years...I lived in your beautiful province, Ootsa Lake in 1961 and was well aware of how disregarded you were.

Why do people continue to build in Lake beds and Deltas. Let mother nature do what mother nature does best. People move to high ground, use some commonsense.

What the hell did these politicians do? Nothing

Hilarious how people bitch and moan that public servants don’t have a crystal ball to predict every catastrophe. Every natural disaster is deemed 100% predictable after it happens. The public doesn’t seem to look at their own responsibility- eg due diligence when buying property. Houses in low laying lands, houses by rivers, creeks, or other streams, houses near the ocean. Sure they can be beautiful spots and some are even somewhat affordable. But we need to be conscious of the risks and not expect the provincial government that took office only in 2017 to weather-proof the entire province. I was land shopping in 2019 and looked at a lot of properties in the areas of Princeton, Vernon, Shuswap, Cariboo. Always asked myself each and every time: how close am I to water, how steep are the surroundings, how good are the roadways, how many escape routes are available. Saw a lot of places accessible only by a bridge, places meters away from a lake or river, places near steep slopes, entire communities with only one access route. Wildfires, foods, landslides, blizzards are NOT new things. They are becoming more frequent and more intense, but have always happened. We are all full aware of the danger of earthquakes. Does it stop people from buying houses in low-laying land near the coast? No. People choose to ignore the ground in those areas can liquify if a strong enough earthquake hits, similar to the one in the 1700s. Forget about building houses that are “earthquake-hardy”. Nothing is ready for when the ground sinks underneath you. Someone might ask, “Why do authorities allow construction in those areas?” And I would ask back, “Do you think people would accept it if the government disappropriated whole neighbourhoods on account a big earthquake MAY strike in their lifetime?” We want authorities to make it all “safe” for us, but we don’t want to make concessions and take responsibility over our own decisions. Anyone who chooses to look at BC’s geography can recognize there’s no safety here. There’s only hoping for the best.

Don’t need a computer model now LOL

I was here

HAARP !!!!!

Canada reaps what it sows. It's contributed hugely to CO2 emissions & climate change & plans to continue to do so for many more years. Trudeau bought a pipeline & uses Canadians' taxes to subsidize the fossil fuel industry. Harper refused to transition workers & energy production out of oil & gas. People want well paid, secure jobs in industries that don't cause this damage. Canada's shame is that families in countries that never contributed to climate change also have to experience these disasters. Totally wrong to wait for other countries to stop producing fossil fuels, got to lead by example. Also totally wrong to say Canada needs the revenue from these industries, renewable energy is profitable too, specially if it had the same Government subsidies.

Solution: Send in the Dutch!

Fail.

HAARP