“It’s been an interesting week for sure,” said Regional District of Mount Waddington Director of Operations Patrick Donaghy Wednesday.
“We’ve had a blockage on Telegraph Cove road. We’re waiting for Western Forest Products to bring in some machinery to clear this debris flow that’s blocking this road at the railway crossing,” Donaghy said. (The road reopened Thursday.) “There’s been at least one reported case in Hyde Creek of a septic tank floating to the surface.”
On Tuesday, said Donaghy, there were some small sloughs that had blocked access to roads on Malcolm Island, “however they were quickly resolved. Those were the big ones.”
RDMW board Director Heidi Soltau reports that a number of homes in Sointula had water in the basement.
“We had one washout on Kaleva Road, quite a few road floods, and a small slide which are all fixed now and we are bracing for onslaught number two tomorrow (Thursday),” Soltau said. She was also worried about the King Tides that start on Nov. 14, which are projected to be over 17 feet.
King Tides occur at times of the year when the moon is closest to the earth. They happen twice a year, but they are typically more dramatic during the winter.
According to Donaghy flooding also resulted in the closure of the Link River Campground. With more rain in the forecast, the North Island is still not out of the woods. “If we get any big rainfalls in the next short future, the land won’t be able to manage it, because the ground is already saturated.”