HISTORICAL NEWS SEARCH - Government of British Columbia

October 5-14, 1955
Event type: Rockslides.
Precipitation: Kitimat (278.9 mm/8 days), October 5-12, 1955; Ocean Falls (184.8 mm/3 days), October 6-8, 1955;
Namu (208.1 mm/4 days), October 6-9, 1955; Falls River (360.3 mm/8 days), October 6-13, 1955; Prince Rupert (82.5
mm/2 days), October 12-13, 1955; Ocean Falls (163.3 mm/2 days), October 13-14, 1955.
Source: The Vancouver Province, October 7, 1955; Squamish Advance, October 13, 1955; Kitimat Northern Sentinel,
October 13, 1955; Terrace Omineca Herald, October 13, 1955.
A small slide occurred on the Terrace to Kitimat rail line. The 60-ft. (18-m) slide blocked the line near
Lakelse Lake. On October 9, the Terrace-bound train was delayed for two hours. The line was expected to be
reopened on October 14. In Terrace, the heavy rains hindered the work on the pipeline construction for the new water
line from Deep Creek.
A gravel slide in the Sandhill buried the Kitimat Concrete belt loader. The Kitimat River rose to within 2 ft.
(60 cm) of the road level near the Sandhill.
On the afternoon of October 6, a PGE speeder hit a rock and jumped the tracks at Stone Creek 23 mi. (36.8
km) south of Prince George. Two members of a PGE bridge and buildings crew were killed and two others injured.
The speeder was flung sideways on the track and the two men killed were run over by it and the toolcar the speeder
was towing.
November 15, 1955
Event type: Ice floe.
Precipitation: Not available.
Source: Ramsey 1962 (p. 250).
On November 15, a huge ice floe in the Fraser River near Prince George partially destroyed the false work
on the PGE bridge under construction, causing $10,000 damage.
February 15-19, 1956
Event type: Snow avalanches.
Precipitation: Aiyansh (38.1 mm/1 day), February 15, 1956; Prince Rupert (23.6 mm/1 day), February 16, 1956; Falls
River (137.1 mm/4 days), February 16-19, 1956.
Source: The Daily News, February 16, 17, 18 and 21, 1956; January 31, 1961; B.C. Ministry of Public Works 1957 (p.
N 35).
On February 15-16, the Prince Rupert area was hit by a blizzard with winds of 50 mph (80 km/h), followed
by a rapid rise in temperature and rain. The winds caused snowdrifts up to 2 ft. (60 cm). *1) On February 16 and 17,
power blackouts occurred in Prince Rupert as a result of heavy wet snow on the high-tension lines. The Prince Rupert
to Kitimat passenger train was delayed by a snowslide at Kwinitsa. The slide came down on February 16, sometime
between 1-9 a.m., and measured a length of 100 ft. (30 m) and a depth of 30 ft. (9 m). It was cleared at 5:30 p.m. on
February 16.
The storm, described as “one of the worst snowstorms in the history of the Queen Charlotte Islands,” caused
the federal Public Works survey ship Hilunga to sink on February16 after it ran aground near Cape St. James. The
five-man crew of the 82-ft. (24.6 m) vessel, on a routine dredging inspection trip, took to the lifeboats. The gale
hampered the search for the men, who were later found on Athlone Island.
In the middle of February, snow conditions closed Highway 16 between Prince Rupert-Terrace for six days
(B.C. Ministry of Public Works 1957). It was closed late on February 15 because of a slide at “Hole in the Wall,” 1
mi. (1.6 km) east of Salvus. Smaller slides occurred between Prince Rupert-Kwinitsa, and at Amsbury, 12 mi. (19.2
km) west of Terrace. Between February 15-19, 7 ft. (2.1 m) of snow fell at Salvus, 5 ft. (1.5 m) at the Summit, and 4
ft. (1.2 m) at the Rainbow Inn. High winds at Terrace caused continued drifting of snow, hampering the snow removal
work. The highway was reopened on February 21.
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*1) In February, Prince Rupert’s record breaking snowfall totaled 28.9 in. (73.4 cm) (The Daily News, January 31,
1961).
March 6-7, 1956
Event type: Snow avalanches.
Precipitation: Terrace (26.4 cm snow/1 day), March 6, 1956.
Source: The Daily News, March 7, 1956.
A slide at “Hole-in-the-Wall,” approximately 1 mi. (1.6 km) east of Salvus, closed Highway 16 again.
During the afternoon on March 6, 2 ft. (60 cm) of fresh snow fell.
On March 7, CNR reported small slides on the rail line between Terrace-Prince Rupert at Mile 51.7 and a
small slide, measuring 30 ft. x 10 ft. (9 x 3 m) at Mile 43.2. The slides closed the line for 6.5 hours.
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