HISTORICAL NEWS SEARCH - Government of British Columbia

Source: The Interior News, March 8, 1945.
On March 5, another rockslide came down at Amsbury and covered the CNR line. The slide, 200 ft. (60 m)
long and up to 30 ft. (9 m) deep, in a narrow cut was not expected to be cleared until March 17.
May 15-19, 1945
Event type: Spring runoff flooding.
Precipitation: Smithers A (15.7 mm/1 day), May 15, 1945; Smithers (22.6 mm/2 days), May 15-16, 1945.
Source: The Interior News, May 24, 1945; Environment Canada 1991.
Heavy rains causing high water levels held up rail traffic on the Smithers division. Passenger trains were
delayed. The worst flooding conditions occurred east of Topley, where the Bulkley River overflowed the tracks and
threatened to wash out a bridge.
On May 19, the Bulkley River near Houston recorded a maximum daily discharge of 156 m 3 /s (Environment
Canada 1991).
May 26-31, 1945
Event type: Spring runoff flooding.
Precipitation: Not applicable.
Source: Prince George Citizen, May 31, 1945; The Vancouver Daily Province, May 31, 1945.
Following a five-day heat wave with a peak at 84 o F (28.9 o C) near Prince George the water levels of the
Nechako and Fraser rivers neared the flood stage. Rising at nearly 1 in. (2.5 cm) an hour, it caused flooding of
lowlands east of Prince George. Around May 31, the Fraser River was rising faster than during the week preceding the
disastrous 1936 floods. Minor washouts occurred on the rail line between Prince George-Smithers.
The spring of 1945 had been cool. In April in Prince George, the mean temperature was nearly 5 degrees
Fahrenheit below normal, the lowest in 10 years. Water levels were at the lowest in 30 years and caused the ice to
remain longer. The Fraser River opened up on April, fully a week later than usual. *1)
It was reported that the Bulkley and Telkwa rivers were over the banks until the low-lying snow would go.
The Fraser and Nechako River watersheds were confronted with much snow at higher elevation.
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*1) In 1911, 1920 and 1936, heavy winter snows, late spring, little April-May runoff, warm days and nights in late
May and June, accompanied by heavy thunderstorms built up water levels to danger points. Weather conditions in
1945 were very similar to those in the 1936 flood year (Prince George Citizen, May 31, 1945).
June 18-20, 1945
Event type: Flooding.
Precipitation: Namu (101.9 mm/2 days), June 18-19, 1945; Falls River (73.7 mm/2 days), June 19-20, 1945; Bella
Coola (60.0 mm/2days), June 19-20, 1945.
Source: The Province, June 21, 1945; The Vancouver Sun, February 20, 1946.
A constant heavy rainfall caused Snootshlee Creek and Bella Coola River to rise 8 ft. (2.4 m) above their
normal levels. On June 21, hay fields and gardens in the Bella Coola Valley flooded. In Hagensborg, the schoolbus
was unable to get through because of flooded roads. According to Bella Coola old-timers, this was the first time they
remembered a flood occurring at this time of the year. *1)
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*1) Over the winter of 1945-46, at a cost of approximately $1,400 “Native Indian and white labourers” using
bulldozers carved out a new riverbed through the forest and away from the village. By February 20, 1946, the work
was almost completed. Within a week, a blast of dynamite charges would divert the river into its new channel. (The
Vancouver Sun, February 20, 1946)
October 13-15, 1945
Event type: Flooding and landslides.
Precipitation: Falls River (192.6 mm/2 days), October 13-14, 1945; Kitimat Mission (171.2 mm/2 days), October 13-
14, 1945; Terrace (92.0 mm/2 days), October 14-15, 1945; Terrace (63.8 mm/1 day), October 14, 1945.
Source: The Omineca Herald and Terrace News, October 17, 25, [24] and 31, 1945; The Daily News, October 13, 15,
16, 18 and 27, 1945; The Evening Empire, October 13, 15 and 16, 1945; The Interior News, October 18, 1945; The
Omineca Herald and Terrace News, October 17 and 25 [24], 1945; The Daily Alaska Empire, October 13 and 15,
1945; Telegram, October 14, 1945, W. R. Workman to J. C. Brady. B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways,
Terrace; File 32-41-10, Letters October 18, November 26, 1945, March 28, 1946,W. R. Workman (Ass. Dist. Eng.) to
J. C. Brady (Dist. Eng. Prince Rupert). B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways, Terrace; Telegram, October
22, 1945, Wilson to J. C. Brady. B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways, Terrace; Letters, October 15, 22,
1945, Hugh McDonald (General Foreman Stewart) to J. C Brady (Dist. Eng. Prince Rupert). B.C. Ministry of
Transportation and Highways, Terrace; File 2-40-80 Report, February 16, 1946, F. N. Good, P. Eng., Location of
Bridge Replacement on Bitter Creek. B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Highways, Terrace.
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