Why were we caught flat-footed on flooding?
In 2012 we have every imaginable device available in modern technology. At times it appears almost as though day-to-day living functions on remote control. Computers have become almost indispensable tools of information from research into family roots to providing almost minute-by-minute weather reports.
Space travel has become a reality much in the mode of Buck Rogers’ 21st century comic strip so popular decades ago. It seems nothing is impossible now. Although at considerable cost, airplanes and helicopters are used for multiple purposes; even the somewhat superficial task of monitoring traffic volume in urban areas.
I had presumed that monitoring the flow of mountain streams would be standard practice particularly during the unusual weather patterns we have experienced this year. Surely with today’s easier access to upper regions it could be determined when something unusual is happening to the flow of mountain streams.
In the late 1960’s just prior to the fatal wash-out at Camp Creek on the west end of Griffin Lake (trans-Canada Highway) it had been noted that during a normal high run-off, the creek had dwindled down to a mere trickle. It would be interesting to know whether similar indications were evident during all the recent disasters.
In the late1920s to ‘30s it was understandable that people were caught without warning in landslides and washouts. By today’s standards that is classed as a primitive era. Did someone turn the clock back or is there some computer illiterate reason why everyone was caught flat-footed in 2012?
ALLI GRAHAM
Sicamous