HISTORICAL NEWS SEARCH - Government of British Columbia

14, a mud, rock and debris slide came down that covered a 35-m section of the Trans-Canada Highway up to a depth of
3-4 m.
Several roads, including Shelley Road South and Graves Road near the Blackburn area were affected by
floodwaters. A 15-m deep washout occurred near Prince George and the main road to the airport flooded. Floodwaters
caused Graves Road to collapse, creating a hole “some 10 m deep.”
South Shelley Road suffered most damage. Floodwaters eroded a section on the south side of Highway 16,
creating a massive chasm in the road about 15 m deep and 7-10 m wide. Damage to the road, which was closed, was
estimated at $75,000. In the Pineview area, high water flowed across some roads. Also hard hit were the Old Cariboo
Highway and Johnson Road. A stretch along Johnson Road from the Old Cariboo Highway to Sintich Road was
closed. A portion of the Old Cariboo Highway between Johnson Road-Highway 16 was reduced to single-lane traffic
The inclement weather also caused power outages in the College Heights, North Nechako, Giscome and
Willow River areas. On the morning of April 14, two circuits went out in Chief lake and Beaverly. All outlying areas
in Blackburn, west of town and off the Hart Highway were plowed. City street crew foreman Terry Arndt noted, “I
don’t think…. ever plowed snow on the 14 th of April.” *1)
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*1) On April 24, 1985, Prince George reported a record snowfall of 14 cm while in 1984 it snowed as late as May 31 in
Prince George (The Prince George Citizen, April 15, 2002).
May 23, 2002
Event type: Flooding.
Precipitation: Not available.
Source: Times Colonist, May 23, 2002.
On May 23, heavy rains caused rivers and creeks to jump their banks in the Houston-Smithers area. The
Bulkley River rose 75 cm over 24 hours. Excavators in front of bridges were pulling logjams and debris to prevent
damage. In the District of Houston, floodwaters were right up to the doorsteps of some places, forcing four residents to
evacuate their homes. Protective dykes built after the last serious flood in 1997 were holding and helped to reduce the
impact of the water.
Water also covered a section of Highway 16 east of Houston. Two CNR bridges were threatened and farmers
moved animals to higher ground. In Smithers and Telkwa, sandbagging continued in low-lying areas as water levels
rose.
June 8, 2002
Event type: Rockslide.
Precipitation: Not applicable.
Source: The Terrace Standard, June 19, 2002; Schwab et al. 2003.
On June 8 between 0:15-1:30 a.m., melting ice caused a massive landslide into the Copper River. The river
was temporarily blocked twice; once by the original debris and also by smaller landslides that occurred all day on June
8. Water Survey of Canada station 08EF005 situated 3 km downstream recorded the blocking of the river. The slide at
15.5 km up the Copper River Forest Road severed this main logging road and also the Pacific Natural Gas (PNG)
pipeline. The major landslide cut a 4,000-ft. (1,200 m) section of the PNG 10-in. (25 cm) main pipeline A temporary 4in.
(10 cm) gas line was strung across the slide area. By June 12, PNG had completed the first phase of their temporary
repairs and were providing full service to all their customers. An intense fire at the break could be seen along Highway
16 near the bridge crossing of the Zymoetz River. At 10:15 a.m., PNG personnel observed overtopping of the dam and
a smaller debris flow.
A 200-m section of the road was covered in mud and debris to a depth of around 10 ft. (3 m). According to
Forest Service acting operations manager Dave Bewick, the road would be out of action for several weeks. It would
take time for the slide debris to dry out to the point it could be excavated and for engineers to determine what repairs
could be made. “It could be August … or even a bit later,” Bewick said.
The blockage of the road barred access for both recreational users and loggers. K’shian Construction had
some equipment stranded upstream of the slide. Although normally road maintenance is the responsibility of the forest
company licensee, Bewick noted that a slide of this magnitude was “an extraordinary situation” that likely called for
special treatment.
According to Jim Schwab, this high alpine landslide will not be the last in the area. *1) Warm weather and
heavy rain makes the highly fractured rock more unstable. Approximately a 1.4 million- m 3 slab of rock, “the size of a
sky scraper,” broke off at the 4,500-ft. (1,350 m) level. As it rolled down the valley, the high alpine landslide gathered
huge amounts of rocks, mud, trees and other debris.
It was estimated that the pile of debris that hit the bottom was “the size of a city block six storeys high,” and
included boulders the size of houses. “It’s one of the bigger landslides that have occurred in the last 20 years,” Schwab
said. He said that about 2-3 million m 3 of large rocks and small forest debris entered the Copper River and created a
small lake upstream.
The avalanche debris flow traveled a distance of 4.3 km. The drop in elevation from the headscarp to the
river was 1,255 m. The total volume entrained, transported and deposited through various zones approached 1.6
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