Mt. Nusatsum

Mt. Nusatsum

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Flood Aftermath

It wasn’t the biggest flood Bella Coola Valley has seen, but certainly some problems have been created and some areas had higher water than others.  It rained most of the night, but luckily the freezing level came down to about 3000’ through the night and so at higher altitudes there was snow.  The Thorsen Creek bridge was saved, luckily the road contractor had an excavator move in and dealt with some logs that had become jammed and could have easily damaged the bridge.  Hagensborg is flooded from the Bay Hotel to the Legion, Saloomt Road was flooded in the normal low spot, Hammer road is washed out in two places, the forestry bridge on Noosgulch washed out the approach on one side and Nusatsum forestry road is washed out at 2 km.  There was fresh  snow on The Hill (Highway 20) today as well.

 

The rain was much slower most of the day and hopefully this storm has ended and now we can wait for the first big snow.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Fall Rains

So today we are having a 'Bella Coola Rain' event. It started yesterday, there were clear and ominous warnings from the weatherman on Wednesday which had the calm before the storm feeling most of the day. It has been raining more or less continuously since Thursday morning. It's always got potential for trouble because we have had some snow accumulation in the mountains and it's early light non snow pack snow, which combined with the tail end of a tropical rainstorm where freezing levels rise to 2-3000 metres, is a potential recipe for trouble.

By 3 PM today, water levels were beyond seasonal freshet and at flood stage in some areas. The water was very close to coming over the highway at the Thorsen Creek Bridge, there was the usual stretch of highway at Meechams garage under 2-6" of water and side creeks were pretty wild. Hammer Road was cut in two places early in the day. I'll provide a better overview of the whole extent of the event when it is over.

In my checking around today I was reminded about the beautiful 'smells' of a flood. There are two distinct smells, one is the fresh earth smell, of all the siltation that is being carried down from the various places where erosion is happening and soil being deposited, the other is the distinct mushroom/fungus smell of all the fall musty leaves and organic material being washed down. It's a beautiful smell and you'll all know what I'm describing if you have smelt it.

Still raining, Friday evening and still more snow to come down. Hope it's not the big one, doesn't feel like it, but there will be some damage.