Mt. Nusatsum

Mt. Nusatsum

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Flood Posting Comments

I've received comments about my flood postings that have obviously indicated some frustration to how things were handled by authorities responsible for such issues as floods.  I won't publish them directly because the Bellacoolablog likes to stick to things which represent an interpretation of the some of the big natural events we see or small things like Grizzly's view on the weather or some useless fact about local things.  At this point I don't know all the facts about how the flood was handled and some of the comments are probably too early to judge that as well.

Floods, fires, earthquakes and natural disasters are stressful things and you have to look pretty hard to find someone in Bella Coola who isn't faced with some tough challenges or went through some pretty tense moments.  It's true that Bella Coola has a long history of looking after itself especially during major flood events, but remember that in the days of the big floods of 68, 80 etc, there was a large intact Ministry of Highways group who took charge and made things happen.  Nowadays things are different and people have different responsibilities and everyone has a job to do.  Pulling together is still the way to go - it will get things fixed faster than not.  It's going to take a lot of money to fix our problems and we need help in getting that money.   Gentle, persuasive, persistent, rationale thought and input to officials will change things that you don't like.  In the meantime, help your neighbor, don't repeat things that you don't reasonably believe to have some facts behind them and use the opportunities presented to try to change the things you don't like.  Grizzly

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the updates! Glad you and your family are safe.

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  2. Its shocking to me how quickly conditions can change in your valley. I was in the valley last week fishing for a 10-day stretch. The river was very low for September and fairly clear by Bella Coola standards. Fishing was not great, however, seemed to be a fairly week run of coho.

    I left the valley on Thursday morning and it was just starting to sprinkle a bit. The forecast told the story though, up to 200 mm of rain possible. I'm glad we got out when we did.

    The massive log jams, massive rip-rap banks and new river channels on the river tell the story of floods past, including last November's event. I can only hope that resident of the Bella Coola Valley are prepared for these types of events, with adequate supplies to ride this out. Its pretty obvious to me that this can happen just about any time during the fall or early winter.

    I hope all of the residents of the Bella Coola valley take care. You have a beautiful valley, and its kept me coming back for 13 of the last 20 years.

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