16 November 2021

Landslides and road damage from an atmospheric river event in British Columbia

Posted by Dave Petley

Landslides and road damage from am atmospheric river event in British Columbia

British Columbia, in western Canada, suffered an atmospheric river rainfall event on Sunday and Monday that caused extensive damage and many landslides.  The full picture will not become clear until later this week, but levels of damage to the road network look to be high in places.

Live Journal has a good gallery of images of the aftermath, including this picture of a landslide on Highway 1 between Agassiz and Hope:-

A landslide on Highway 1 between Agassiz and Hope in British Columbia.

A landslide on Highway 1 between Agassiz and Hope in British Columbia. Image from Livejournal.

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Meanwhile another landslide occurred on Highway 5 to the north of Hope:-

A landslide on Highway 5 to the north of Hope in British Columbia.

A landslide on Highway 5 to the north of Hope in British Columbia. Image from Livejournal.

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Perhaps the most spectacular problem has occurred on Highway 1 between Lytton and Nicomen.  BC Transportation has tweeted a remarkable set of images of the impact at that site:-

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That is not going to be quick job to fix.  I believe that this is within the area that was affected by the large wildfire in July 2021.

And BC Highways has also tweeted images of a mudslide on Highway 99 near to Lillooet:-

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Meanwhile, the Vancouver Sun reports that as many as 275 people were trapped between two landslides on Highway 7 near to Agassiz.  It has a nice graphic illustrating the scale of the issue:-

A graphic from the Vancouver sun illustrating the scale of the issues caused by the atmospheric river in British Columbia.

A graphic from the Vancouver Sun illustrating the scale of the issues caused by the atmospheric river in British Columbia.

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The Vancouver Sun reports that 225 mm of rainfall was recorded at Hope in this storm.

Unfortunately it appears that there has been at least one life lost in these landslides, and the damage appears to be severe.

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Acknowledgement

Many thanks to the various people who have provided information about this event, especially Charles Hunt and Susan DeSandoli.