Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Marilyn Roberts lost everything in her basement on Saturday when water from a nearby pond came rushing in. The Sally's Cove resident said it took less than 30 minutes for five feet of water to fill up her basement, leaving her with a massive mess and questions about the future of her home. "It's heartbreaking," she said. "I don't know how I'm going to pull through it down the road. It's going to be hard for me."
An expert who studies landslides says last Saturday's incident in Whitehorse wasn't the first and likely won't be the last. John Clague is a retired professor of earth sciences at Simon Fraser University who specializes in geological hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides and floods. He saw pictures of the landslide and said he was surprised at the amount of water that was in the sliding material. He was also surprised by how far it went, crossing Robert Service Way, the Millennium Trail and spilling into the Yukon River.
British Columbia is shifting into repair and recovery mode following devastating floods and landslides caused by record rains that crippled transportation links, deluged agricultural operations and forced the evacuations of thousands of people, says the province's public safety minister. Mike Farnworth said Monday the cleanup and repair work ahead in southern B.C. is massive, but after three weeks of all-out efforts by volunteers, Canadian Forces soldiers and emergency officials to secure dikes, rescue people and animals and salvage properties, the rebuilding job must start.
British Columbia's Ministry of Health is warning residents in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley of possible water contamination connected to the recent flooding in the province. Record-setting precipitation fell between Nov. 14 and Dec. 2 in southwestern B.C., causing severe flooding that destroyed homes and farms, and caused landslides that killed several people. Officials say heavy rain may have caused overflow or failure of liquid manure storage systems in the region. The province says it is working with farm operators to reduce the risks of possible overflow.
Water frozen at the tops of mountains that helps sustain up to a quarter of the human population is under threat from climate change, population growth and lack of proper management, according to a new international study. The systems store and transport water through glaciers, snow packs, lakes and streams. They supply water to 1.9 billion people on Earth. A group of 32 international scientists — including one Canadian — published a paper in the journal Nature on Monday to highlight the importance and vulnerabilities of what they call Earth's 78 water towers.
