Fire & Flood, Facing Two Extremes: Why B.C. can't always build its way out of risks BCFLOOD BCWILDFIRES BCSTORM CLIMATECHANGE RDOSinfo EmergMgtRDOS
On a day in early spring, when the air is warm but the wind still bites, Grown Here Farms in Cawston is unseasonably quiet.
Grown Here Farms was flooded with water, mud and debris from the Similkameen River in Cawston in mid-November, 2022. It’s hard to distinguish the fields from the river.Moving homes and infrastructure out of a flood-prone area, or “managed retreat,” is often seen as a last resort — a costly and disruptive option that’s considered when flood prevention or mitigation isn’t possible or doesn’t make financial sense.
McInnes, who bought her property in Cawston six years ago, has been evacuated four times in the past four years — twice due to wildfires on the rippled hills above her farm and twice due to flooding. Instead of raising dikes, set them back from the river, thus giving the water space to ebb and flow, he said. When a highway washes out, build a bridge to allow fish and sediment to pass through rather than installing a larger culvert. Develop natural water storage by restoring wetlands. Foster agriculture that can coexist with high water. Mitigate wildfires by removing fuel from forests.
The Room for the River program began after floods in 1993 and 1995 caused the evacuation of more than 200,000 people across the Netherlands. Between 2006 and 2015, dikes were moved back from rivers, channels dug deeper and floodplains restored. The government provided a buyout to about 250 households.Article content
At the start of the program, there was protest, but after several years, many have become proud of it, he said. “They forget they were opposed. It’s at that point that I know if we succeeded or not.” “You are going to pay the piper one way or another,” he said. “So, the more you can do it up front and be proactive, it’s cheaper, and you have better outcomes when you have wildfires. You have less damage to homes and property and forests.”Article content
Dave Zehnder with Farmland Advantage shows a restored wetland at A Rocha Farm in Surrey on April 14, 2022. In addition to benefiting the environment and wildlife, the project mitigates flooding.As a startled blue heron takes flight, farmer Dave Zehnder pointed to recently planted native trees and shrubs that help prevent erosion of the riverbank at A Rocha Farm.
The effectiveness of “old approaches” may also be diminishing with climate change, as B.C.’s landscape undergoes changes. UBC professor Younes Alila says climate change is challenging B.C.’s natural flood and fire defences.“Healthy forests are one of our best flood mitigation strategies,” said Alila, an expert in watershed management.
With Metro Vancouver’s population predicted to grow by a million people by 2050, according to Metro Vancouver’s most recent projections, smart development is critical, said Alex Boston, executive director of Simon Fraser University’s renewable cities program.Article content The strategy, which is intended to set the vision and determine “priority actions” for flood management in B.C., “will help shift us away from just flood protection and needing to harden and engineer solutions” toward a broader framework that involves building back better, risk reduction and accommodation, said Giles.
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