Mt. Nusatsum

Mt. Nusatsum

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Nusatsum River

We took a short walk today on the newly enlarged alluvial fan of the Nusatsum River.  It expanded quite a bit to the east after the Great Flood of 2010 and will probably require some work to protect Highway 20 on that side.  The power of this river is dramatic - it's one of the longer and biggest tributary streams to the Bella Coola River, originating in the mountains about 40 km south of the valley and flowing mostly to the north.  It has a lot of its surface area above 5000 feet which means it collects a lot of snow which can be a good or bad thing in a flood.  The bad is that it has so many high peaks and glaciers that it can start collecting snow in early September and if we get a big rain like we did in September with a freezing level up very high - then it liquidizes the drainage and it heads for the Bella Coola River.  The good part is that as we get more into late fall and early winter if we do get more big rains, there is a good chance a lot of the surface area of this drainage will stay covered in snow because it is so high.

The damage in September and amount of material moved and deposited in the lower Nusatsum River was quite impressive and it's hard to picture how the small stream it is today could be so violent. The view of Salloomt Peak with it's fresh snow and freshly disturbed river bar in the front was eye catching.  Grizzly

2 comments:

  1. Hallo first sorry for my english (I write from Switzerland and my languages are italian, french and german, and only a little bit english). I began to read your blog at 4 september and now I read each day. In 2003 was the first time that I was in bella Coola and I found so beatiful. So I return each two year and I stay for 1 or 2 weeks. I find your blog very interessing. When I read your blog it's as I live in the valley (thanks for pictures too). I hope that you don't stop to give me news from your valley. Thanks Patrizia

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  2. Enjoy your blog. Would love to learn more about living there and the needs of the extended community. Hope to chat. T

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