Dredging
1. Will dredging occur this summer to prevent spring and fall flooding?
Answer: Dredging can be carried out this summer since that issue is part of the longer term study and there are other agencies and approvals involved. Dredging has and will continue to be one of the options considered.
2. Did we use to dredge, and if so when did that stop?
Answer: Some research shows there was some dredging done to extract gravel to accommodate the construction of a bridge, but not to strictly remove materials from the river to make the channel deeper. Gravel extraction last occurred in 1989.
3. There are several instances of dredging occurring down south. Why is that occurring and why can’t dredging occur in Prince George?
Answer: Staff has looked at what is being done elsewhere. Dredging needs to be part of a comprehensive review with a number of agencies to ensure full consideration is given to balance the needs of public safety with the river ecosystems.
4. Was dredging a solution to prevent flooding and where has it occurred recently?
Answer: There could be different reasons for dredging. There has been no regular extraction of gravel in any community. There is an intensive CEA process before dredging can take place. While dredging can lower flood levels at some times, there needs to be a comprehensive review of each situation before dredging can take place. The EOC is considering the option of dredging and while it can be part of the solution, dredging rarely is a significant reason for reducing flood levels. DFO and other agencies work closely with PEP to look at options where flooding has occurred and dredging is one of the options.
5. Was there dredging done at Fort Langley, and if so why?
Answer:
(a) Some dredging took place last year in two lower mainland areas. There are several committees looking at this issue with a number of agencies involved. It is very important to look at the value of removing gravel from rivers and streams and a need to balance public safety with in-stream values. This kind of work is heavily scrutinized by government and non-governmental agencies.
(b) The Nechako has special significance because of the sockeye runs. Dikes are sometimes put in place for public safety and sometimes to protect river systems from industrial activity.
(c) Fraser Basin Council has been having ongoing discussions on the removal of gravel and there has been limited gravel extraction. No gravel extraction has taken place at Fort Langley to mitigate flooding.
6. How do we keep sediment from gathering at the confluence of the two rivers?
Answer:Sediment is a natural process of the river. We have no control over sedimentation.
7. Has the city started the process to get approval for dredging?
Answer:The City is looking at the regulations regarding dredging. A determination about the viability and usefulness of dredging will be part of the longer term study.
General
1. Question: What caused the current flood situation?
Answer: Low temperatures beginning in late November continued through to December 10th when temperatures dropped to close to minus 30o Celsius. These weather conditions caused freezing of the Fraser River at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser Rivers. Ice frazil on the Nechako joined into chunks or pans, and accumulated against the frozen Fraser River. These large accumulations of ice then constricted the channel which resulted in high water levels causing the overland flooding.
2. Question: What is a local state of emergency?
Answer: On December 11, 2007, the City declared a State of Local Emergency to protect lives and property as a result of the flooding. This declaration gives the City the authority to do what is necessary to ensure the protection of life and property.
3. Question: How many are affected?
Answer: As of January 22, 2008 24 homes remain under Evacuation Order, 47 homes remain under Evacuation Alert, and 47 businesses remain under Evacuation Alert.
4. Question: What is an evacuation alert and what is an evacuation order?
Answer: Evacuation alerts are issued to notify residents of the potential for harm from unstable river conditions. Those who have been issued with an evacuation order have been offered assistance if transportation from the area is required. A Reception Centre has been set up at the Prince George Civic Centre for those issued evacuation orders.
5. Question: How many times has the River flooded before? Response: Since 1917, 27 ice jam events have occurred.
Answer:Approximately ten of the events resulted in significant flooding.
6. Question: Is the flooding preventable?
Answer:: Flooding is not always entirely preventable, but can be managed with a variety of flood protection measures.
7. Question: Why did it take so long before anything was done?
Answer:: The Fraser River typically freezes over before the Nechako River. When the Fraser River is frozen over, the Nechako River ice is prevented from entering the Fraser. Once the Fraser River ice melted (due to warm temperatures and help from warm pulp mill effluent) for about 3 ½ kilometers, it was then determined that the Fraser would be able to accommodate some of the Nechako ice safely.
8. Question: Will this ice jam affect the people living along the Fraser River?
Answer:: There is always the possibility this jam could affect downstream residents and infrastructure, depending on weather conditions. From the January 22, 2008 Community Information Forum
Long Term Plans
1. Question: When will the Flood Risk and Long-term Solution Study begin?
Answer: The City is currently undergoing negotiations with the Province concerning the scope and cost. The initial phase of the study will take about seven months. Total time to complete the full study is estimated at 14 months as it depends on various consultation groups.
2. Question: As previously mentioned the study might take 14 months to complete. Can a study be expedited? When are the groups getting together? Will the gabions stay the entire 2 ½ years?
Answer: Negotiations have already begun. The Solicitor General has assured the City that the issue will proceed as quickly as possible. The gabion dikes will remain in place, based on continuing risk assessments.
3. Question: What options will be considered and what options will be non-starters (i.e. dredging, ground water pumping, diking, etc.)?
Answer: The study will consider any and all options to mitigate the effects of future ice jam and flood events.
4. Question: Will there be an opportunity for public input into the study?
Answer: Yes, public input will be considered.
5. Question: What is the current thinking on land use changes and upstream controls?
Answer: The study results will speak to these matters.
6. Question: What are the future plans for businesses and land use issues for River Road and area? Is there anything official in the Official Community Plan?
Answer: As the study proceeds to identify options, we can review the OCP to reflect appropriate land uses. Upon review, one could consider options such as park use or light industrial uses. There is currently a considerable amount of land in the River Road area already designated in the OCP for future park use. The remainder is designated Light Industrial. All options will be considered in the future.
River Road
1. Question: Can the berm on River Road be moved back or will it have to stay for 14 months?
Answer: The berm will stay in place until a permanent flood control solution has been obtained.
2. Question: What was the reasoning behind placing a berm closer to the North side rather than South side of Winton Global?
Answer: The berms were placed there to protect surrounding areas from contamination should leakage from the hot oil plant occur.
3. Question: Who decided to place the extra berm in front of Winton Global? The water having nowhere to escape can be very dangerous for a hot oil plant.
Answer: The EOC decided on Jan. 5, when the flood level exceeded the 200 year flood plain level, to place another berm. It was the safest thing to protect the hot oil plant in case of a water breach.
4. Question: Will the temporary berm on River Road be permanent? Who’s liable should a vehicle fall off the embankment? Will it become a city street?
Answer: It was a City street before and remains so. The embankment is considered safe. We will install edge markers and post signs.
5. Question: Can the berm on River Road be even further increased in height after the Solution Study?
Answer: The height of River Road will be determined by safety standards and by the study results.
6. Question: What is being done to resolve the situation?
Answer: a. Emergency operations personnel continue to monitor the situation. b. The City continues pumping water from affected areas. c. An Amphibex unit was brought to Prince George from Montreal by Eco Technologies of New Brunswick. It is designed to break up ice jams and move ice to areas where it can be managed. The 37-foot-long vessel uses a backhoe like shovel to break and move ice. d. Work on a 2.7-kilometre pipeline to bring water from the steam plant at Canfor’s Intercon pulp mill into the channel of the Nechako has been completed. The pipeline will introduce 15-degree Celsius water into the channel, which will soften and melt ice in the channel with a view to keeping an open channel. The Amphibex mechanically breaks up the ice to open a channel allowing ice to flow away from the main jam. Warm water is piped into the area near the main jam to keep the water channel open. The main jam is located at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser River. With the open channel, when ice movement occurs in the Nechako, the ice and water surge can move into the Fraser River. Removing this ice will also help mitigate spring freshet flows and allow higher future Nechako River flows to move into the Fraser River.
7. Question: Concerning the Delhaven complex - As the diking is in place and percolating groundwater is a threat, can a groundwater pumping system be installed to protect the complex?
Answer: The engineers who will work on the solution study will consider all options.
8. Question: What information and concern do you have about hydrostatic pressure after diking the river? Is it confined to the river only or does it increase underground water pressure as well?
Answer: Yes, it is a concern. Groundwater information from monitoring wells will be helpful in providing data for the study.
9. Question: Concerning percolating groundwater and hydraulic pressure on Third Avenue. Will the freshet water influence future flooding in that area in the spring?
Answer: If the river falls, the groundwater will fall. The groundwater level responds directly with the river level.
10. Question: What if the Amphibex and hot water solution doesn’t work? Are there any other solutions or plans in place?
Answer: We’re very optimistic about the 2 chosen solutions. They are safe and effective. We have looked at several options. If the current ones fail, we’ll revisit the other ones again.
11. Question: What is the timeline in terms of what are the plans for next year should a similar situation in river arise? Will the diking stay? Can we prevent the same from happening again next year? How can we prepare for it?
Answer: Temporary berms and dikes will stay in place until a permanent solution is determined through the study. We’ll keep monitoring the situation.
12. Question / Comment: Concerning land use and upstream control. Individual was concerned that Alcan let too much uncontrolled water out of its reservoir causing too high water levels in the river systems. How come the government doesn’t enforce tighter water discharge regulations for Alcan? Where is all the water coming from that pushes the ice out?
Answer: Regulation agencies set the rate of water Alcan can discharge based on the water level in the reservoir. They need to release the water or things could be a lot worse. The river water in the past Fall wasn’t low; in fact, more water came out of the Stuart River System than in years before.
13. Question: Does river bed dredging, to bring down the water table, have any effect on lowering the flood plain levels?
Answer: No, dredging itself doesn’t. Flood plain level calculations change over time depending on the number of floods occurred and data collected. The data of the new floods will be added to the existing data to determine new levels. Slight change is to be expected but not significant change.
14. Question: Has the City considered dredging the river yet? Are they in contact with DFO yet to get in motion?
Answer: Yes, City has been in contact with DFO. That requires expert advice. If it turns out of be a viable solution, it will be pursued.
15. Question: Is the City going to be able to provide emergency services at all times in the river road area (insurance and safety issue)?
Answer: Yes.
16. Is river road built to be a 4 season road to take standard B train trucks and are the off ramps and accesses completed?
Answer: River Road is built to city standards but because it was constructed in winter conditions, there may be a need to do more compacting and regrading in the spring.
The City has provided acceptable access to almost all properties. If there are any additional concerns, please provide them to the City.
200 Year Floodplain
1. Question: Concerning the 200 year flood plain levels and the potential of raising them. What kind of consultation will take effect to determine the flood plain levels?
Answer: Once the hydrology has been determined, the City has a Flood Plain Bylaw that defines the levels of the 200 year flood plain. After new data is collected the bylaw can be updated after a public consultation process and set out the science behind it. The study will determine the appropriate elevation levels and then the regulation can be updated as well.
2. Issue: New Flood Plain Level and potential impacts to those affected for increased insurance rates, future development concerns, and change in property values.
Answer: These issues will be addressed at future Community Information Forums.
3. Question: Who issued building permits for the affected buildings for habitation and operation of businesses? Is the City liable for issuing such permits?
Answer: Construction along rivers is very common. In the past there was no regulation prohibiting construction of non conforming buildings. People may maintain buildings that have been built prior to new regulation. Permits are issued on a case by case review. The risk is addressed to the developer at the time of building. Delhaven at the time of construction, for instance, was not within the flood plain but has been added since.
4. Question: For future building permits and new flood plain levels, how will that impact insurance rates?
Answer: It should not affect it as buildings were built with other levels in place. New houses will be built to the current 200 flood plain level. Homeowners need to be aware of that and take that into account when building new structures.
5. Question: How are home and business owners informed that their properties are now included in a flood plain (insurance and building code issue)?
Answer: The study to evaluate the 200 year flood level will involve community consultation. Amendments to the Flood Plan Regulation Bylaw will also involve community consultation and public hearing; and once the new recommended 200 year flood plain level is established, it is presented to Council for approval.
Available Assistance
1. Question: Are employees of business that have been affected by the flood eligible for any kind of financial assistance?
Answer: That depends on individual circumstances. It’s best to check with Emergency Social Services and Service Canada to find out details.
2. Question: How are businesses impacted by the flooding going to be reimbursed for costs incurred during the flooding?
Answer: For information concerning small businesses eligible for Disaster Financial Assistance visit the Provincial Emergency Program Website at:
3. Question: What are the differences in cost recovery between private insurance policies, the Provincial Emergency Program and the Disaster Financial Assistance program?
Answer: Disaster Financial Assistance (DFA) is a program administered by the Provincial Emergency Program. It provides limited financial assistance for qualifying homeowners, residential tenants, farmers, small businesses and charitable organizations for uninsurable damage and losses. It is not an insurance policy and damages that are insurable are not eligible for DFA. Check with your insurance agent or an insurance broker for information about private insurance.For more information visit the PEP website at www.pep.gov.bc.ca/dfa_claims/ PrivateSectorGuidelines.pdf
4. Question: Where to go for information on home insurance – more specific to those impacted
Answer: Check with your insurance agent or an insurance broker. For information about DFA visit the PEP website: www.pep.gov. bc.ca/dfa_claims/privatesectorguidelines. pdf