HISTORICAL NEWS SEARCH - Government of British Columbia

continued unabated for at least another two hours after that. O’Brien Road and Bridge Maintenance crews were unable
to start clearing debris until 4 or 5 p.m. The highway reopened by 9 p.m.
The storm left the highway in an extremely vulnerable state. *1) The ocean broke through the riprap berms at
the end of Wiggins Road and across the highway across “Dress for Less.” Ministry of Highways district supervisor Al
McKean said these areas would be repaired as soon as possible. Initial repairs will cost an estimated $250,000. Placing
additional riprap was also considered.
Richardson Ranch in Tlell lost large chunks of valuable pastureland and several hundred feet of fencing. The
tide forced the Tlell River up higher than Doug Richardson had ever seen it, and it was river water, not ocean water,
which flooded the animal clinic and kennels, the shop and one room of his house.
Richardson blamed a “freak,” or unusually high tide rather than the strong winds. The tide charts had predicted a 24-ft.
high tide at 1:45 p.m., slightly lower than the previous day’s high tide. He pointed out that the storm was not a
particularly big one. “No trees were blown down, except those trees by the ocean which were washed out. The problem
was that the tide was way higher than it was supposed to be.”
Richardson said that he had heard of only three other occasions when water came close to the Ranch: in 1902
or 1903; sometime in the early 1940s, and in 1953. In each case, the ocean broke through to the river. This time, the
flooding was due to the high level of the river. He added that it is not likely to happen again as he plans to build a
dyke.
Just down the highway, 80-year old Lionel Andrews said it was the “worst storm damage he has seen in a
lifetime of living in Tlell.” Andrews said the road had been flooded before but in the 1960s it was raised 4 ft. (1.2 m) to
fix this problem. He said he was surprised to see how much driftwood had washed into the fields between the highway
and the ocean and on the road.
Further south in Tlell, John and Jennifer Davies lost between 12-20 ft. (3.6-6 m) of land. Davies described
waves braking 30 ft. (9 m) in the air, tearing chunks of land and causing tall trees to fall in to the ocean. He was
concerned the trees would stay in the waves in front of them but instead they were completely washed away. “It’s the
biggest one, the most dramatic in the time we’ve been there,” he said.
Six years earlier when the Davies lost land in a storm, a new road was built to their house. The latest storm
washed away the old road in two places. He managed to save the rain gauge at their weather station by tying a rope
around it, but the sea washed away the gauge’s shelter.
Davies also noted that it was the third year in a row that Tlell had lost power on either Christmas Eve or
Christmas Day. The power was out in Queen Charlotte, Skidegate and Tlell on December 24 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.
Tlell customers lost power again shortly afterwards until 8:30 p.m. On December 25, Port Clements was blacked out
from 1:30 a.m. until 3:45 a.m. Tlell was out again that evening from 8 p.m. until just after midnight. All outages were
storm-related.
On December 24 at 11 a.m., the Sandspit weather station recorded a peak wind speed of 60 kn. (111 km/h).
The Air Canada/Jazz flight landed without incident at the Sandspit airport. But due to the cancellation of the ferry
sailings of the Kwuna, the outbound flight had only two passengers. The storm washed debris all around the airport
fence but none, except some seaweed, got on the runway.
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*According to University of Victoria geography professor Ian Walker, the east coast of Graham Island is losing an
average of 1-3 m of land a year. Walker, who is studying coastal erosion and shoreline response and dune growth
between Oeanda-Hiellen rivers, noted that parts of Highway 16 may soon have to be moved inland. “Sections of the
highway (near Tlell) will be gone in 20-30 years.” Data from East Beach shows the average erosion rate is 1-3 m per
year. However, in the previous year alone in some locations the sea swallowed as much as 5 m. The erosion is
connected to rising sea levels, which are in turn related to global warming. The ocean around Graham Island, for
example, is predicted to rise by 15 cm over the next 100 years. Global warming also causes an increase in the
frequency and magnitude of storms (Walker In: The Observer, January 8 and June 10, 2004).
June 25, 2004
Event type: Avulsion and flooding.
Precipitation: Not available.
Source: Ministry of Environment files; Clague 1984.
Wondering Creek (also known locally as Boulder Creek) avulsed on the fan. Leaving its previous channel to
Dragon Lake and flowed approximately 2 km to Nass camp. No buildings were flooded but water ponded around them.
During similar flooding in 1974, there was 1 ft. (30 cm) of water in the kitchen of Tillicum Lodge.
The re-diversion work into the Dragon Lake channel took about two days of machine time.
And is considered a temporary fix. The avulsion was not caused by the washout of the road
bridge. This bridge had not been replaced but a “ford” had been constructed to allow access.
The area has been subject to debris flow and snow avalanche process (Clague 1984). Travel distance
from the landslide source area to the highway is about 2.7 km. Length of fan is 350 m and the
debris flow fan area is 4.6 ha in size.
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