HISTORICAL NEWS SEARCH - Government of British Columbia

During mid-February, heavy rains on top of frozen ground caused flooding near Terrace. A portion of the
road near the cemetery and part of the graveyard flooded. According to Steve Scott, head of the parks and recreation
department for Terrace, flooding at the cemetery is not a common problem. *1)
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*1) Since the soil is quite sandy there and the graveyard is located far from any sewer line, no additional drainage was
included in the cemetery (The Terrace Standard, February 21, 1996).
April 9-13, 1996
Event type: Icejam flooding.
Precipitation: Not applicable.
Source: The Interior News, April 17, 1996; January 14, 1998; Houston Today, April 17, 1996.
Around April 10, ice jams occurred on the Telkwa River and Buck Creek. A huge break-up icejam created a
bottleneck on the Bulkley River, forcing the water over the riverbanks into some homes and yards. The jam began
forming around April 9 when upstream chunks of ice drifted into old river ice. Late on April 10 the rising water
threatened major flooding for a couple of days. At one point, the ice pack extended about 5 km, from the Donaldson
Road area to beyond the Telkwa bridge.
In Telkwa, “a handful” of residents and one business were directly affected by the flooding and three or four
families were evacuated. On the afternoon of April 11, Jerry and Nancy Clausen were evacuated from their home in
the low-lying area near Eddy Park. John Sproule’s residence suffered the most severe damage. His fully camperised
school bus was covered and broadsided. It floated around and jammed against a fence. Next door, staff at Bulkley
Valley Farm Supply scrambled to move lumber and other merchandise from the store’s riverfront storage. The icejam
threatened the Overstall residence beside Eddy Park.
Long-time residents said it was the highest they had ever seen the river rise. Isabel Paulsen, who moved to
the village in 1947, noted they had seen high water before but “never seen anything like this.” After the waters went
down, Bernice Sparks, who had lived by the river for 28 years, was left with a yard covered with mini-icebergs and
piles of river silt.
According to Bill Elsner, the village’s volunteer emergency co-ordinator, the water backed up about 12 ft. (3.6 m) in
about 90 seconds, flooding Highway 16. Early predictions were for the jam to last up to a week. The most critical
period was on the late afternoon of April 12 when there was every chance the river would spill over its banks. But
sometime around 9 p.m. on April 12, the ice shifted and the river broke through, moving the jam downstream.
According to Ministry of Environment water branch hydrologist Paul Marquis, the jam was just too large to dynamite
or bring machinery in for. The jam finally broke on the afternoon of April 13.
The jam at Buck Creek near Houston was not as serious as Telkwa’s. By April 12, the ice had melted away.
May 17, 1996
Event type: Fatal snow avalanche.
Precipitation: Not applicable.
Source: The Vancouver Sun, May 24, 1996; Jamieson and Geldsetzer 1996 (pp. 164-166).
On May 17 at about 12:30 p.m., an avalanche down the slope of Mount Cerberus in the Monarch Icefields
about 70 km from Bella Coola killed four skiers. Six members of the B.C. Mountaineering Club were on a 21-day
expedition to the Monarch Icefields. Before setting off to reach the summit of Mount Cerberus, the group had dug a pit
to evaluate the snowpack stability.
One member decided to turn around at the base of the steep (35-45 o ) west face of Mount Cerberus and skied
back towards their camp. During the ascent the group stopped. One of the survivors considered the risk to high and
descended and began building a windbreak for a group lunch shelter. Watching the progress of the other three. At
approximately 12:45, after reaching the uppermost visible crevasse and in the process of passing it, an avalanche
released. The three climbers who were quite close to each other were likely swept off the cliff (200-300 m) over the
icefall and down to the basin below.
The party member that had turned around earlier was returning to meet the others due to poor visibility on
the ski route back to camp. The avalanche released as she continued up to meet the person building the windbreak. She
turned around and tried to run away but was knocked down by the wind and spray.
As all the group members were wearing transceivers, the two survivors located all three victims in
approximately 20 minutes. The first victim was uncovered in about one minute, having been partially buried with part
of his pack showing. The second recovery was five minutes later and the last was within 20 minutes. The two buried
climbers were both under about 1 m of snow. None exhibited pulse, pupil response or any other sign of life.
Having determined that there was nothing further they could do for their friends, they left the bodies partially
buried. One of the victim’s transceivers was left on “transmit.” The two survivors returned to their camp and prepared
for the three-day ski out via Talchako, Hanlen Falls and Atnarko to their truck.
The avalanche was a size 2.5 dry slab, which released on a 37 o glaciated slope at 3,100 m just above the
uppermost crevasse on the west aspect of Mount Cereberus. Dimensions of the initial slab release in the storm were 30
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