New report from the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives says B.C.’s River Forecast Center, the body that monitors the province’s rivers and provides flood warnings, understaffed despite internal report ten year old recommending more staff.
Ben Parfitt, resource policy analyst at the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, says the center, in its current form, is ill-equipped to anticipate and respond to flooding.
In its report, CCPA provided a 2010 report to the provincial government which warned that staffing levels needed to be increased within the organization.
“The [2010] report, which was written by a former senior water official in the province, was that staffing levels at the River Forecast Center – which is the essential frontline agency for providing timely and accurate warnings to British Columbians – were well below what they were. in Alberta and the Pacific Northwest of the United States, ”Parfitt said.
At the time, the River Forecast Center had only 5.5 full-time employees, compared to 24 in Alberta and 16 in the US Pacific Northwest.
“We have not seen any increase in staff [since then]”said Parfitt.
Parfitt says the understaffing could result in an inability to effectively communicate warnings in a timely manner – something that has happened in British Columbia over the past two weeks.
“What we’ve seen with events over the past few weeks is that not only has the River Forecast center here been far, far behind its counterparts in the U.S. Pacific Northwest from Portland in issuing warnings, but that its models were nowhere near predicting what happened in this particular case, ”Parfitt said.
‘Incredible work’
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth defended the institute.
“The River Forecast Center does an amazing job and we have amazing people doing an amazing job. held throughout the year, ”Farnworth said.
He added, however, that the government would revise its response.
Younes Alila, a hydrological engineer and professor in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia, says the government should increase staff levels, especially when events like these floods become more frequent and intense.
“When you combine the effects of climate change with the effect of forest cover change from clearcutting and forest fires, many communities in British Columbia are about to have a hell of a ride. years and decades to come, ”Alila said.
“What is at stake is the community and its livelihoods, so we need a better warning system to save lives and protect communities in British Columbia”
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