Prince George not safe from ice jams until spring: experts

Officials in Prince George, B.C., say the area will not be safe from flooding until the weather warms up next spring.

At a briefing on the flood situation on Sunday, two engineering consultants brought in to assess the situation said the low-lying areas of Prince George be at risk as soon as temperatures drop again.

Previously, there was hope that warmer weather could dislodge the ice jam causing widespread flooding problems for the area.

The six-kilometre long ice jam has consolidated into a two-kilometre jam at the meeting of the Fraser and Nechako rivers, but it is still just as thick, the consultants said.

Water Levels Dropping

Overnight, river levels have dropped slightly, and that has given some city officials hope.

"We still have an ice jam on the river, but there is a channel beyond the jam that appears to have an awful lot of flowing water in it, and we are hoping that the situation is about to resolve itself," said Don Schaffer, the city clerk.

The engineers monitoring the situation are not hopeful this is the last of the winter flooding, however.

"The flows are unlikely to change in the next week or two weeks," said Dave Andres, one of the engineers.

"It will keep happening as long as we have wet springs and wet summers…I am saying you have to ride it out," he said.

"Nowhere to put it"

Short of a warm spell melting the ice and dispersing the jam, there are very few options available, the engineers said.

"Mechanically, there is nothing we can do to remove that ice, there's just nowhere to put it," said Anders.

Paul Doyle, one of the other engineering consultants, said the only thing that could have prevented the flooding is a good system of dykes.

Temporary dike baskets are being installed to keep the water contained, and will stay in place until the spring.

"The only really long term solution to this current problem on the Nechako, and it's not isolated by any means, is some decent diking along there. That will basically solve the problem. Anything else is stop-gap, catch-as-catch can," Doyle said.

Although it's too late for this year, Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley said the city was already planning an extensive system of dykes as part of their infrastructure planning.
 
"Ironically, our engineering staff and planning staff have been working on a diking system for some time now, and I believe the first report on this months, if not years, of work is coming towards council this coming week." said Kinsley.

He says the city is getting ready to applying for joint funding to pay for the infrastructure upgrades.

No guarantee of being home for Christmas

The mayor would not speculate as to when residents and businesses might be allowed back to flooded areas.

Evacuation orders for 50 residents and 12 businesses have been issued for the areas affected.

"We do not at any point in time want to put residents at risk or employees of businesses at risk," said Kinsey.

The evacuation orders are still in effect.