Slide in Kootenays should be a wake-up call for BC: experts
Posted July 19, 2012 8:07 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
JOHNSONS LANDING (NEWS1130) – The search effort has been suspended at the site of a massive mudslide in the Kootenays.
As crews re-assess their efforts in the massive debris field at Johnsons Landing, some geologists are saying the province should also start a re-assessment of how slide risks are being affected by climate change.
A former government terrain stability expert, who is now a private consultant, suggests BC should update its slide hazard mapping. He tells the Vancouver Sun that increasingly-frequent extreme weather events, such as heavy rain and rapid snow melt, will contribute to more destructive slides. Other geologists the paper spoke with agree.
At the site of the slide in Johnsons Landing, the debris field covers a huge swath of land. BC’s Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe says they are taking the next few days to consider their options and decide where they should look for two bodies still missing.
“We will try to make a determination as to the most likely areas where we might find more victims and we will make some assessment as to how we could cover [the areas] safely. But of course, there are no guarantees,” explains Lapointe.
“We might excavate several tonnes more earth and not find them,” she warns. “Would we excavate the whole site? I don’t think that’s going to happen. We have 83 acres of slide area.”
The bodies of two people were found close to the wreckage of one of the homes buried in last week’s slide. Two more bodies are still unaccounted for.
