The first of seven flood photojournals.
I had an inkling that powerful things were happening on my last morning at Nuk Tessli (yesterday.) I was supposed to fly out the day before - Saturday 25th - but we had 24 hours of torrential rain - after a month of repeated heavy rain storms. It surely must be the wettest September on record. The lake had been very low; often when we get fall rains, it will rise 6 - 8 inches. On Sunday morning it had risen 2 and a half feet! All the rain that had fallen as snow higher up during the previous month had obviously melted. I immediately thought of Bella Coola, which has already been cut off for a couple of days due to slides near the top of The Hill (close to where the troublesome fires of the last two years have been.) Most of the people in the valley live on the flood plain and they are always in terror of floods. Here is a report from Katie Hayhurst at Stuie, near the head of the 50-mile valley:
The road is gone in both directions in several places. The airport is flooded and closed. The water-powered hydro plant went, so the valley is back on diesel generation - but they have only a couple days of fuel because the fuel truck is out of the valley for maintenance, so no way to deliver it to the plant. We have stranded people staying here (thank goodness we got cabins cleaned out). Luckily we didn't lose power for long but the river has done major re-routings and taken out large chunks of highway 20 and several bridges. Still have phone and internet thanks to the microwave tower being close by here at Stuie. We've been asked to take stock of how much food, medications etc. we've got for everyone here - they don't know how long we will be isolated - could be a few days or weeks. Sounds like they are going to put on ferries to bring in supplies and equipment and hopefully take people out. If so we'll hopefully get out to Rupert but we don't know yet when and if we'd be able to get to Bella Coola. Certainly the road between here and the hill is gone big time in places so that's going to be a good long time getting opened - they think getting us open to Bella Coola will be feasible in a few days. But that all depends on tomorrow's onslaught of rain on top of the 'saturation point' we've got already. We had the river roaring about 6-8 feet deep in the meadow below us. Today we tried riding our bikes up the road to where we would have to hike to see some of the damage, but we ended up having bear in front and behind us on the highway - they have nowhere else to go, I guess - so our neighbour escorted us back home, with bear on one side of their car and us riding on the other whenever we passed bears. It is quite crazy. I'll maybe send pictures tomorrow. What an amazing change a day can make. One day everything is quite normal then you wake up and find everything in flood, bears confused and wandering through the yard trying to find a way through water where it wasn't before and looking for food at a critical time.
Sid was late picking me up on Sunday (yesterday) because it was foggy at Nimpo - although it was perfectly clear at Nuk Tessli. So we got to Nimpo late morning and I spent an hour or so visiting, then went to the PO to get a five-gallon jug of drinking water, then to the bakery to buy a couple of loaves of bread. I was expecting to drive to Williams Lake at 4.00 am Monday, to arrive at the garage at 8.00 for a brake job on my van, so I would not have time to bake for myself.
That was when someone said something about the road being closed near the McClinchy Bridge. My turn-off is maybe 100 metres on the Nimpo side of the McLinchy Bridge. So I drove along in warm, quite sunny weather - the surface of the road was dry and everything looked peaceful. Then, round a bend, just a mile or so from the bridge, was a police wagon parked across the road. The cop pointed to two orange cones on the highway - "half an hour ago, there were five", she said.
"The last person came through no more than an hour ago and they alerted us."
By now, several people were beginning to congregate - all locals in their town clothes on their way to Williams Lake.
I thought I could probably walk home from here - maybe six miles -
but the cop would not let me leave my vehicle closer than Towdystan.
I didn't know what to do.
Next thing, two figures appeared on the steep bank above the washout.
It was Ken and Sylvia Dyck from Interior Roads. That settled it.
If they could come across, I could go back with them.
Fortunately, one of the locals said they would take my van back to Nimpo.
We set off a couple of times but were delayed by the helicopter arrival.
Ken had to go and consult with the Anahim roads guy (known by everyone as McGee: in the middle.)
Finally we started walking back to Ken's truck.
This bend in the river is what caused the problem.
In the pictures, it looks just like water. But the noise was indescribable.
Trees snapping, rocks growling, logs bumping with dull thuds against obstacles;
a fresh rattling roar as more road fell into the water.
There was a stong smell of new-ploughed earth.
Of all things it reminded me of my childhood pocket-money job, harvesting potatoes.The bank was incredibly slick, the ground so sodden I thought the whole lot would soon slide into the water.
It was difficult to keep on my feet.
(I was carrying a heavy backpack; Sylvia backpacked my computer and Ken took a small cooler.)
After this we walked along the road for a few yards but round the bend was another obstacle.
Here is what the road looks like half way along this stretch
Again we went into the bush.
This time it was mostly flat so we walked quite a way off the road dodging puddles and windfalls.
At the last we had another slick bank to climb.
Now we had to cross the ditch. When Ken and Sylvia came, they had used a couple of planks. These had long gone and the water was much deeper and wilder. We found a place with a few aspens to help us but the current was very wild. Fortunately I had the long rope I use as a dog lead with me and we fastened one end of this to a couple of small trees. The helicopter guys were above us, watching, and they landed and took hold of the other end of the rope. But it was still very difficult. Ken went first, I was in the middle, and Sylvia last. Right at the end I had the rope in one hand and a helicopter guy's hand in the other but I fell over backwards. I did not get seriously wet above the waist (I had unfastened my pack straps before hand so I could get out of it easily) but the camera was toast.
Ken and Sylvia had offered to drive me home but there had been water over the road on the far side of the bridge and the helicpter guys said Ken should get out of there fast. So they left me with two backpacks and a cooler, with three miles to walk. I took the computer first, and it wasn't bad. My road is far enough away from the river that the sound was diminished until I arrived near the cabin. I had no idea if such a violent river would affect the bank the cabin was on. I checked the roofline as I approached - it seemd solid. And when I got to where I could see it the river looked about the same as during the worst spring flood so the cabin was still safe.
I would take the wheelbarrow back for the rest of my gear but it was already late afternoon and I thought it better to get water first as it would be dark soon. The five-gallon jug I had picked up from Nimpo was still in my van. I took a couple of small jugs and headed to the river but it was like chocolate pudding - and the spot I usually used to get down the bank had totally disappeared, along with a huge chunk of fence. The piece of land that had gone was perhaps four yards wide and 40 yards long. So I had to walk to the creek beyond the packrat palace and haul water from there.
It took a long time to get the rest of my gear. There is quite a lot of uphill going to the road, and even with an empty wheelbarrow it was hard work. Coming back was mostly downhill but then the loaded barrow pulled on my shoulders so I was pretty pooped.
I'll send the rest of the news in part 2.
For those of you who haven't seen it, here is the CBC road song contest. We need votes for our road even more than ever now! You can click on the vote box once in 24 hours. Please help us get our road on the map.
Anyone who wishes to use this info. for their blogs or to pass around, feel free.
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