Weather - whether good or bad

Discussion in 'How's It Growing?' started by Margot, Apr 11, 2021.

  1. Keith Elliott

    Keith Elliott Contributor

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    Yesterday we made our return trip back to Anglemont from the coast, where I was forced to go for my 79th birthday. It wasn't all bad, as my boys took me to see the progress being made on my ancient 1933 Plymouth. It's nothing short of amazing, but this is about our trip back home.
    We were driving east on the Fraser Valley, about 20 kms or so east of Chilliwack, when without any warning the traffic came to a rapid standstill. We were aware that there is considerable construction going on in the area, and of course the rain added to the poor workers pleasure.
    There was a police car that arrived at one of the work areas, just before we did, where they have essentially removed all the vegetation on the south side of the highway, leaving nothing to catch the torrential rain. At that point, there was a huge rush of mud and rocks that came down on the highway literally as we were driving through a foot or so of water. The police instantly closed the highway and we were just plain lucky to have got through.
    At that point we were planning to go on the Coquihalla to Kamloops. No luck there, as highway 5 was now closed. That turned out to be a huge mudslide up near the Zopkios brake check. Our only remaining route was highway 3 to Princeton and then back over to Merritt. Highway 1 via the Fraser Canyon was also closed by this time.
    Every time we got alongside any of the creeks, they were completely mud filled and roaring along. It was quite incredible.
    At Princeton, the rain was just as bad and by this time all the traffic that had got stopped at Merritt due to the big mudslide, was now making its' way to Hope the long way around. We now hear of the flooding at Princeton as well.
    We got safely to Merritt, where we fuelled up and made it through to Kamloops without further incident.
    This morning, we were checking with our friends who live at Hope, and they were without power from about 7 am this morning. All kinds of flooding there as well. What an awful situation.
    Apparently at 4 a.m. this morning, the river at Merritt overflowed its' banks and there was massive flooding. Now we hear that the entire town has had to be evacuated. Some of the video and photos are hard to believe.
    Yes, we have rain here, but nothing compared to what the unfortunate folks are getting in the Fraser Valley.
     
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  2. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    What drama! I'm so happy to hear you and your wife got home safely after a very memorable, scary trip. There are no words; I don't know anyone who remembers such severe weather.

    We're supposed to drive down to Duncan tomorrow for an appointment. The forecast is for a beautiful, sunny day but in all likelihood the highway will still be closed in at least one of several areas where there are no detours. One problem, unfortunately, is near the very well-known Russell Farm Market and Garden Centre which reopened just over a year ago after terrible flooding in February 2020. Word has it that the water is almost up to their eaves but they have no insurance coverage this time. After 70 years, this family-owned business will have some hard decisions to make if this sort of weather should become more frequent.
     
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  3. Keith Elliott

    Keith Elliott Contributor

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    Sounds like you had better give the RCMP a call, or perhaps check with DriveBC to see if your route is still drivable before you go.
    We got to thinking what this is going to do to the supply chain that everyone has been so concerned about. I think the railway line is still open, but I suppose that could change in a hurry given that it travels through the Fraser Canyon. We all become so complacent in our lack of thinking about the store shelves that we give it little thought. Maybe this little disaster will be a real wake up call for all of us. Good luck with your trip tomorrow.
     
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  4. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Today's traffic report said there were no roads open to Hope. The Trans-Canada Hwy was closed in several places.
    It's interesting though - if you do a search on flood evacuation bc, there are very many flood photos to look through, covering many years. We seem to have a short memory.
     
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  5. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    As more reports, photos and statistics come in, it will be obvious that these recent 'atmospheric rivers' are of a whole new order of magnitude than anything we've seen previously.

    I doubt anyone will forget this.
     
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  6. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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  7. Keith Elliott

    Keith Elliott Contributor

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    Thanks Wendy. Yes, we have been trying to keep up with all the news items and we spotted this one earlier on CBC I think it was. We were really concerned about the railway line, as that would be a major disaster if that were to get taken out. Can you imagine the backup of containers if there was a multi week delay getting out of Vancouver?
    Lost our power here a little while ago in the wind, but back up now thankfully.
     
  8. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    oh my! Well the stair cascade is very attractive — just think - The Cascade at Chatsworth House on UK was voted “best water feature” a few years back by one of the upscale house garden genre of magazine Chatsworth House - Wikipedia

    the wind was terrifying tho somehow the hydro power stayed on … just a few flickers and no damage to expensive appliances !

    I am sorry to hear your hiuse is flooded - ugh what a chore. I imagine your septic field is saturated too?

    my spouse person is trapped on the Okanagan side — safe and sound but anxious to be at work on coast side.
    Fortunately they can work remotely to a certain degree.

    oh no poor Russell Farms - I think I still have a Red Rooster cookbook - a unique melange of styles and ingredients!

    go safely @Margot and everyone else.
     

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  9. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    Last edited: Nov 16, 2021
  10. AlainK

    AlainK Renowned Contributor Forums Moderator Maple Society 10 Years

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    I saw that on TV. When it's not forests burning, it's floods. But thanks to COP26, things will soon get back to normal...
    Er... Am I being sarcastic ?...
     
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  11. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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  12. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Didn't hit the bridge... yet. The Burrard was closed this morning as the barge had lifted from the shore and was again floating around.

    We do forget quite quickly the weather of the past. Did you know California's Central Valley was subject to a 43-day atmospheric river event in 1861? The interior of California was a sea... thousands of people died, 200 000 cattle killed, and the state legislature in Sacramento was closed for 6 months to dry out. And it bankrupted California:

    https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Dettinger_Ingram_sciam13.pdf
     
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  13. AlainK

    AlainK Renowned Contributor Forums Moderator Maple Society 10 Years

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    That's right.

    The problem is that what happened once or twice in a century now happens every 2 or 3 years, and that's not a good sign for the future.

    I live near a place which is called "la retrève". It's a river that used to flow every 10 or 20 years or so in the past. It never flowed for almost a century, but there's still a street with a small bridge over... dryland. A couple of years ago, all the new houses in a new housing estate were flooded.

    We had a fairly wet summer this year, but if next year the summer is dry and hot, and the Autumn rain is heavy, they'll have their feet, knees, and waist in water again because the soil will be too dry to absorb a big quantity of water...
     
  14. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    You're in good form this morning @Georgia Strait! I don't usually start the day laughing but your comparison of my waterfall stairs to the Cascade Falls at Chatsworth was hilarious. Kind of a compliment too in a way although my water feature has dried up now, hopefully for good.

    And, Barge on the Beach! Someone should draw an editorial cartoon with that heading.

    We're going to go ahead with the trip to Duncan a bit later, allowing an extra half hour for alternating traffic. I don't expect to see any of the carnage that too many others face in other parts of BC but will be especially interested in how Russell Farms is doing.

    PS It's not my house that was flooded but a little suite attached to the garage; still a lot of work but at least I don't have to live in it while it dries up.
     
  15. AlainK

    AlainK Renowned Contributor Forums Moderator Maple Society 10 Years

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    BTW, "barge" is a French word.

    Étymol. et Hist. Ca 1100 mar. barge « petite embarcation » (Roland, éd. Bédier, 2465 : l'ewe de Sebre, el lur est dedevant : Mult est parfunde, merveilluse e curant; Il n'en i ad barge, ne drodmund ne caland);

    It's also a very common, familiar adjective that means "crazy", "out of one's mind", though it might be derived from another word for a bird (like nitwit in English perhaps) for those who talk a lot often speak out of their mind senslessly (?)

    BARB. Misc. t. 3, p. 187 qui suggère de rapprocher barge du prov. barja « bavarder » (cf. FEW t. 151, p. 268b, s.v. *brekan) est peu vraisemblable, car le mot n'apparaît pas en prov. où l'oiseau se nomme selon MISTRAL : becassincendrous, becarudo, belaire, bulo, charloutino, sourdo, veto-veto, etc. Fréq. abs. littér. : 1.
     
  16. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    I'm pretty sure if I were alive when that catastrophe happened, I would remember it. The problem with me (and others who don't know history) is that I can't remember what I never knew in the first place . . . not quite the same a forgetting.
     
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  17. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    It was more of a collective "we", in that the systems we build, the developments we collectively permit, the infrastructure we plan around -- rarely take into account the memories of the place. Knowing that California has at times been subject to both earthquakes and mass flooding, would we be wise to build a food production system that relies so heavily on the state?

    Or, tsunami stones... These Century-Old Stone "Tsunami Stones" Dot Japan’s Coastline | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine “Some places heeded these lessons of the past, but many didn’t”
     
  18. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I wonder if that was really true (the floating around bit). They were going to a lot of trouble this afternoon at high tide to try to budge it, with no luck. Just one tug, but you can see by the tilt that the shore side is pretty secure on the rocks, and this afternoon's high tide (4.4m) was higher than the morning high tide. Tomorrow's will be the same, but I overheard someone related to the enterprise tell the Park Rangers that they'd be back tomorrow. This is a densely populated section of the city, with the seawall a popular place to walk and run, and half the street given over to bicycles. So even with temperatures at 4C degrees, there was a good audience.
    Barge-on-the-beach_EnglishBay_Cutler_20211116_152141.jpg Barge-on-the-beach_EnglishBay_Cutler_20211116_152228.jpg Barge-on-the-beach_EnglishBay_Cutler_20211116_155352.jpg Barge-on-the-beach_EnglishBay_Cutler_20211116_155656.jpg Barge-on-the-beach_EnglishBay_Cutler_20211116_155703.jpg Barge-on-the-beach_EnglishBay_Cutler_20211116_155809.jpg
     
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  19. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    A good audience for what @Georgia Strait calls 'Barge on the Beach'.
     
  20. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    That name is circulating on Facebook, not to say that @Georgia Strait didn't feel clever coming up with it independently, as a pun on the "Bard on the Beach" Shakespeare Festival that takes place in the summer across English Bay at the area at the far right in the third photo.
     
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  21. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    This is funny clever too - esp for us who count on ferries here at Coast to cross fjords and straits
    https://thebeaverton.com/2021/11/bc-ferries-launches-new-route-to-kamloops/

    I hope it doesn’t offend any who are harmed / homeless / very worried - it is indeed a serious time and I certainly appreciate how lots are pitching in and especially the front line responders out there.
     
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  22. Margot

    Margot Renowned Contributor 10 Years

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    Love it - especially the last sentence: At press time, all BC Ferries’ sails into the Interior were cancelled, rescheduled, and then cancelled again.
     
  23. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I think this Facebook photo is public. Nice banner, but I didn't go down there today - it might just be photoshopped. I didn't notice it when I was driving past. There was not any tugboat.
    Facebook
    On Monday, Nov 22, the 8:32AM high will be almost 4.7 meters. Or December 7, the highest for the month, 5.1m, at 8am.
     
  24. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I think this is public too, a posting about the "return" of Sumas Lake,
    Gold Trails and Ghost Towns | Facebook
     
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  25. Georgia Strait

    Georgia Strait Generous Contributor

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    Oh dear those photos — I am very familiar with exit 95 Whatcom Road (one of my fav fuel stations) which would be on the right hand side of pic (in other words, photo is view to the west)

    i have tears blurring my eyes thinking of the fear and cold drowning of the hardworking farm animals

    And the farmers who have lost a livelihood and take pride in caring for their greatest assets — the land and the animals. Thank you for our good BC local food.

    hère is recent article from Okanagan
    Okanagan agricultural businesses want to see a shift in the supply chain - Penticton News

    @Margot - I wonder how Russell Farms is doing — maybe you detoured north of Duncan BC the other day.
     

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