BC flooding: A cause for alarm

Another title for this article could be – A Cause For Alarm. The Abbotsford and Sumas areas reported hearing the warning sirens on the US side of the border alerting residents to the flooding conditions.

Over time, I noticed when Canada geese are grazing on a lawn or playing field, there is always one goose standing tall and not eating. While the rest of the flock grazes away in content, this one goose stands alert to pending danger. Crows often do the same. Most often a murder of crows pecking away at leaves and the grasses has one crow siting nearby in a tree or roof top ready to sound the alert. Yes, I have tested this out and a squawk or caw is heard from the sentinel and the birds are alerted to my intrusion.

There were no municipal warning sirens alerting the residences of the Fraser Valley floods that danger was imminent. Reports stated that flood sirens were heard on the Washington side as the Nooksack River overflowed the border. Certainly, the telephone and web networks were working but reports again noted that many people in the stricken areas became aware of the flood when the water arrived. Are we too reliant on the cell phone that we think there is no other way to alert when emergencies are happening?

In much earlier times, the town crier kept the citizens informed if there was an emergency. Fire beacons were commonplace as were church bells and even the famous ride of Paul Revere who warned about the British coming. Drums were used and cannons were fired to alert citizens to pending emergencies. In fact, municipal workers in the flood area went door to door to alert those in danger. Why does BC not have a network of municipal warning sirens? Right, we have cell phones. I have one but as a retired senior, it becomes secondary to my home phone – and it is most often not turned on. At the last Squamish emergency alert, I was hiking and did not get the voice message until hours later when I arrived home. So much for emergency announcements.

In the early 1960’s, I worked part time in a hole. In fact, it was a terribly large hole in North Bay, Ontario. It was the underground SAGE site for NORAD. That is the Semi Automated Ground Environment for the North American Air Defence Command during the Cold War. It housed 400 service people and was 60 stories underground. This site operated with the RCAF Fighter Station CFB North Bay. There were also Bomarc missiles in a facility nearby. This massive build up of highly sensitive air defence infrastructure was identified as a key target in the event of a war. This meant that North Bay had warning sirens. Sure, this was long before cell phones or the Internet but each year, the sirens would sound in a test program and that would send chills up our spines. We were warned for weeks in advance to be aware of the test so there were no surprises but certainly spine chills. The sirens were also intended for other emergency events and early versions of emergency measures were communicated to the community.

During the World Wars, Europe and the UK and Canada had extensive air raid sirens that we can still hear in old movies or on YouTube. They served a purpose and they worked. Each event was followed by sirens sounding the ‘all clear’ message. Emergency vehicles all have loud sirens. Would it not be cheaper to simply send out a text or voice mail telling everyone they are coming?

With more tongue in cheek, I suggest we no longer live in an era of imminent emergency. Fire? Heat? Earthquakes? Sky Rivers of Rain? Tsunami? We really do need a first alert warning system that will send citizens to their information sources such as the radio or cell phones and the Internet for the details.

Social media has largely replaced the official government directed emergency alert system – Social media – source of dog and cat videos and gossip and often wonky information – that is now our system to deal with a real emergency. Oh oh, my cell phone is running out of juice. What do I do now? Too bad I did not have a loud early warning from the municipal alert siren that could put me into overdrive to get things in order as best I could.

Squamish lives at the lower pointy end of a couple of massive river basins. We are surrounded by man-made dikes and by nature-made forests. We also live on the lip of a long ocean fiord with some very high tides that lap at the edge of town and climate change seems to have a life of its own. If only none of this were potentially dangerous. And one must sign up with the Municipality to receive emergency alerts on cell phones or home phones. Have you signed up?

The BC ‘Alert Ready’ system uses radio and TV and wireless communication to get the emergency information out. It has never been used. Lytton? No; Coquihalla? No; Abbotsford floods? No. Heat wave? No. The latest information is that it will be used next spring or summer. Goodness that is reassuring. And then if we are not wired in or wired up or listening to the radio or watching TV – then what?

So, back to a municipal warning siren. Perhaps a change to the title of this article makes more sense – A CASE FOR ALARMS

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After teaching stint at Nipissing University and working as an administrator at the Maple Leaf International School in Trinidad & Tobago, Larry Murray moved to Squamish and became the founding Chair of the Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation. Murray has served as the past chair of Sea to Sky Crime Stoppers and as a past director and Eagle Watch coordinator with the Squamish Environment Society. He has also done consulting work with SD44 and contributed to the new Cheakamus Centre. He is currently serving the community as a member of the Brackendale Art Gallery committee.