Inside
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DONATIONS FOR FIRE FIGHTERS P. 5 EDITORIAL P. 6
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GETTING READY FOR CANADA DAY P. 7 INTER-GENERATIONAL PROGRAM P. 8
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$1.30 Inc. GST Vol. 38 No. 13
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Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Nechako River rising could mean extreme flooding is coming Rebecca Watson Omineca Express
Photo by Bill Dobbs
FIT KID MUDDER: Evelyn Dickson Elementary School principal, Mark Gauthier, is seen treading through the mud during a race against Sinkutview Elementary School principal, Wade Fitzpatrick, for Fit Kid Mudder on Friday May 22. More pictures on back page.
An emergency town meeting was held Thursday, May 21 to discuss the expected rise of the Nechako River over the next few weeks. “Today we’re at 558 m3/s and we are expecting to go up to 600 m3/s,” Vanderhoof mayor Gerry Thiessen said at the meeting. “We’re told if we go up to 600 m3/s now there’s a better chance we won’t go up to a higher range [such as] 700 m3/s or higher and, depending on weather, we could go well into July at 600 m3/s. This won’t be a short high-water event...It’s going to last a number of weeks.” On April 13 Rio Tinto Alcan addressed Vanderhoof’s council with a ten per cent chance the river flow would exceed 500 m3/s - the point of high streamflow advisory. In weeks following that number steadily increased and now, the water is rising about an inch-and-a-half daily due to Rio Tinto Alcan’s Skins Lake Spillway discharge target of 600 m3/s. “It’s minimizing the risk for a bigger event down the road. The balancing act is they have to discharge water when the inflow is higher than the outflow. At 500 the boat launch floods with low level flooding in properties on the river. Extensive flooding is around 800 m3/s but we’re far from that,” Evan Parliament, Chief Administrative Officer said at the meeting. Continued on page 2
49th Anniversary
Nechako Valley Exhibition Booklet
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