FSJ prepared for a flash flood? Think not!

Apparently, our mayor thinks the City of Fort St. John is now adequately prepared to withstand a flash flood. What, they have a fleet of vac trucks on standby in the event of another downpour??

Grow a flipping brain, man.

The situation is no different than it was this past weekend, or two weeks before that. The city has an inadequate sewage system. God knows when it was last upgraded - certainly not recently, in the Matthew's Park area. Clearly, the city planners didn't either anticipate the possible future growth of the city; or they figured it would never rain that much.

Add to that, the fact that many of the flooded properties and streets are located at the bottom of a hill (water runs downhill, in case you were wondering), and on the site of a former swamp. Obviously, the natural drainage properties of the land are going to compromised when said land is a swamp.

And the newer houses which got flooded at the other end of town? Okay, they're on top of a hill. But, the by-pass road is higher than the properties. Again, the sewage system needs upgrading and how many of these properties were properly graded by the builder when they were completed? Do the yards actually slope away from the houses, or were they just made nice and flat by the builders and left?

When we built our house, we made sure the land sloped away from the house. We even have two shallow drainage ditches (which are still soaking wet) to direct water away from the house, and out to the edge of the backyard. Our old house, was also properly graded. But unfortunately, not our next door neighbours. Every spring, they had water coming in their basement when the snow melted and headed straight for their foundation. I remember one spring, they sandbags out, just to keep the water out of the basement. Pretty extreme for a house in town, on top of a hill, with no river in sight. They've since built a berm of earth and grass around their foundation and it seems to have done the trick.

Perhaps this is what our mayor means, when he says the City is prepared for another flash flood?? He's laid in a supply of sandbags? To go with the army of vac trucks? Or perhaps he has a large supply of porta-potties in his backyard, ready for when people are told not to use water, and therefore not flush their toilets to avoid putting further stress on the inadequate sewage system?

Of course, you know, that no matter what he says, it's all political-speak and actually has no substance or meaning that the people can count on. Full of hot air, I believe my parents would say! Maybe enough hot air will evaporate the rain as it falls, and then there will be no further issues?

I'm not holding my breath, but it will be interesting to see what measures he will trot out, come the next flood. I'm guessing that will be August long-weekend?