Barring any startling weather events, the potential flood in Vanderhoof is looking to be an unlikely event.
At a council meeting on May 14, both Ian Leslie, the District of Vanderhoof Fire Chief and Andrew Czornohalan, the Operations Director for Rio Tinto, were cautiously optimistic about the chances that the community would face any major flooding events in 2018.
“The river from Friday (May 11) until this afternoon has dropped four inches at our gauge at Sandy Beach,” said Leslie. “We’re hopefully just going to sit back because things are looking good. Curves are going down and the River Forecast Centre is coming online with where we are at right now.”
Leslie indicated that the Nautley River will have peaked by May 18, while also stating that the Nechako and Nautley rivers will continue to be monitored in the coming weeks.
Czornohalan, who was able to take a comprehensive tour of the community with Leslie to further understand the potential impacted areas, did note that there is still some uncertainty regarding the remaining snow in the upper water shed.
“Upstream of Francois Lake could really have an impact on the flow of the Nautley, so we are still monitoring that one very closely and understanding that situation as the warmer temperatures reach those high elevations,” said Czornohalan.
According to Czornohalan, the situation concerning the Nautley will become much clearer in the coming weeks, as Rio Tinto will be able to further monitor the impact that the warm weather will have on the snow melt rate in those areas.
Czornohalan also mentioned that when looking at the mitigation of flood risks in Vanderhoof, Rio Tinto has been examining all options.
“Effectively what we are trying to do is build ourselves an understanding of what options we have available to us if the situation were to rapidly change,” said Czornohalan. “Whether that be dramatic change in temperatures, rainfall, we’re looking at what can we do and what could we do.”
Czornohalan noted that he is still looking for feedback from the council in the coming days in terms of what steps should be taken to mitigate flood risks, particularly about what the target flow of the Nechako River should be set to in the coming months.
The preliminary flow targets that Czornohalan detailed during his presentation were all based on historical data. They included one possibility of 400 cubic meters per second (m3/s), which would result in a five per cent risk of flooding, 450 m3/s and a two percent risk or 500 m3/s with a theoretical zero per cent chance of flooding. Czornohalan stated that their team has received feedback from landowners who could be potentially impacted by different flow targets and that they are still seeing further feedback from council.
However, Czornohalan noted that river flow can be modified through the Skins Lake Spillway to ensure that a target flow is reached.
“We will share those flows,” said Czornohalan. “As the Nautley decreases, we will increase so that we can realize the flow target that is chosen.”
Both council, Czornohalan and Ted White, the Director and Comptroller of Water Rights for British Columbia, who was on hand via conference call, decided that further discussion to ensure that all potential outlying risks are looked at would be the next step when deciding what preliminary flow target would be chosen.
But, as high water levels continue to be monitored, the presentations provided at the council meeting suggested that residents may be able to breath a careful sigh of relief for now.
