Flooding/slide rescues in Pacific Northwest and British Columbia

[bcla]

The rain seems to have been pretty serious over the weekend.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...and-state-of-emergency-in-western-washington/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-floods-abbotsford-chilliwack-evacuation-1.6250742

The rain caused some massive landslides in British Columbia where some vehicles were stuck for hours on various highways until the people got pulled out by military helicopter.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-landslide-weather-road-debris-nov15-1.6249085

 

[E&Cmom]

Yes, it is really bad.

https://604now.com/rainstorm-floods-chaos-submerging-metro-vancouver-streets/
https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/water...moFOnef1BnUCr4D6QyrVqhMS9qPO_ALIrDIg69k4r1o8A
The rain we got was something else. Nice and sunny today but in areas the water level is rising. I am not in the flooding areas but have have family, friends and coworkers living in some of the hard hit communities and even though luckily thier home are not effected can not go anywhere due to multiple road closures. Some people have been trapped on the highway and some hard hit communities have been completely evacuated

 

[SC Minnie]

The company I work for has a mill east of the mudslides. It is a horrible situation those people are going through.

Besides the human aspect, we're dealing with the transportation issues for product that normally goes into and out of the port of Vancouver.

 

[bcla]

Here's US Coast Guard footage of an RV park in Oregon that was evacuated. The start shows the flooding and it looks like they managed to land in a fairly dry area. I've seen some other footage showing other rescues with baskets being lowered or people being pulled out by rescue swimmers.

This is pretty crazy, with these guys being pulled out to what looks like a corrugated roof before being lifted out.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1460449819705569286

 

[Aladora]

I posted this on the Canada/America thread.


It has really been terrible here in BC. I'm on Vancouver Island and the single route from Victoria to the rest of the island (The Malahat) is a mess. They have opened it to single lane alternating traffic every 30 minutes during the day and from 6pm-6am it is going to be shut down entirely. There were people who waited hours in traffic only to not make it over before they closed the road for the night.

As of right now, there is NO way by road into or out of Vancouver. Vancouver, the largest city in BC, is essentially cut off from the rest of the province by road.

We were pretty lucky in Victoria that the flooding was not as bad as other places and we were not evacuated but most of the people I know had some sort of damage to their homes. My house is half a block from the ocean and only a few meters above sea level but we lucked out and didn't have any water in our basement. My mother, who lives on top of a hill, had a huge flood right at her front door step.

 

[JimMIA]

Here's US Coast Guard footage of an RV park in Oregon that was evacuated. The start shows the flooding and it looks like they managed to land in a fairly dry area. I've seen some other footage showing other rescues with baskets being lowered or people being pulled out by rescue swimmers.

This is pretty crazy, with these guys being pulled out to what looks like a corrugated roof before being lifted out.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1460449819705569286

Those helicopter extractions are pretty harrowing if you're the patient.

I've practiced those with Air Rescue (off an airboat), and they are something you'll never forget. You are double-secured -- directly to the cable, and also to the rescuer -- but it's still scary.

I'm a litte surprised they hoisted the basket alone without a rescuer. Our Air Rescue uses the same procedure for direct hoists and baskets, always with a rescuer attached. Our baskets are also somewhat bigger than theirs; ours are full stretcher length and can hold a patient fully secured on a backboard.

A couple of friends of mine sank a brand new NPS airboat in 16 feet of water in a canal in the middle of the night, and had to be extracted. They were able to get out of the airboat and the canal and had to walk out into the marsh to a point where the Air Rescue crew could see them and do the extraction. They were very fortunate that neither were hurt.

 

[Aladora]

And BC just declared a state of emergency.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8380618/british-columbia-state-of-emergency-floods/

 

[E&Cmom]

And BC just declared a state of emergency.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8380618/british-columbia-state-of-emergency-floods/

I was coming to post this too.

 

[bcla]

Those helicopter extractions are pretty harrowing if you're the patient.

I've practiced those with Air Rescue (off an airboat), and they are something you'll never forget. You are double-secured -- directly to the cable, and also to the rescuer -- but it's still scary.

I'm a litte surprised they hoisted the basket alone without a rescuer. Our Air Rescue uses the same procedure for direct hoists and baskets, always with a rescuer attached. Our baskets are also somewhat bigger than theirs; ours are full stretcher length and can hold a patient fully secured on a backboard.

A couple of friends of mine sank a brand new NPS airboat in 16 feet of water in a canal in the middle of the night, and had to be extracted. They were able to get out of the airboat and the canal and had to walk out into the marsh to a point where the Air Rescue crew could see them and do the extraction. They were very fortunate that neither were hurt.

The rotor wash must be crazy when there's a water rescue. I'm seeing this demonstration, and the rescue swimmer is obviously fighting it. I could only imagine how difficult it is with a small boat. I understand that many people being rescued panic because of the rotor wash.

 

[JimMIA]

The rotor wash must be crazy when there's a water rescue. I'm seeing this demonstration, and the rescue swimmer is obviously fighting it. I could only imagine how difficult it is with a small boat. I understand that many people being rescued panic because of the rotor wash.

It can be intimidating, especially in the latter stage where you are getting ready to actually lift the person up to the aircraft. At least in an airboat, we are usually able to find a place to ground the airboat so it doesn't blow around. In the ocean, that would be a much different situation.

In an extraction, they usually lower the rescuer from more altitude than they will use later -- typically about 100 feet, so there is not a huge amount of rotor wash. But when they are ready to extract, the aircraft drops down much lower so that if anything goes wrong the people won't fall very far, and also so they won't be swirling around for too long. That's usually around 40-50 feet, plus the aircraft is using a lot of lift during the actual extraction -- so yeah, the rotor wash can be pretty fierce.

It's actually worse for the people remaining on the boat or in the water as someone else is being extracted. The rotor wash on extraction could blow someone off the boat if they weren't paying attention and really holding on.

 

[bcla]

Now there's rationing of fuel. The 30 liter fuel per visit limit in BC doesn't seem to be working too well, but they seem to be hoping that the honor system works. It's not clear if consumers are liable for the fine or if it's the sellers.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/panic-buying-kicks-as-gas-rationing-begins​

Within hours of Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth announcing an order limiting non-essential vehicles to 30 litres of gas per trip to the gas station, social media posts started to appear showing gas stations packed with cars and people not adhering to the 30-litre limit.​

​

In a news conference Saturday morning, Farnworth acknowledged that while not everyone would adhere to the new rule, he was convinced that “the overwhelming majority” of British Columbians would do the right thing.​

​

The order, which runs from Nov. 19 until Dec. 1, applies to all fuel suppliers in the Lower Mainland to Hope region, the Sea to Sky region, Sunshine Coast, the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island. Violations are subject to a $2,000 fine.​