Cracks in B.C.'s infrastructure revealed by extreme weather events of past 6 months
CBC
From this year's flooding, to heat domes and wildfires, to the recent cold snap, residents and experts in British Columbia have been left to wonder how equipped the province's infrastructure is at handling these extreme weather events.
In June, a heat dome contributed to hundreds of deaths. Since then, wildfires have ravaged homes and forests, and floods have forced mass evacuations
For nearly two weeks, most of the province has been in the grip of an extreme cold snap, leading to frozen pipes and broken heating systems.
Rodney Hobson kicked off the New Year by getting a call that the karate dojo he owns in Kelowna was flooding.
"I opened up the front door. We had about four inches of water across our entire facility and it started pouring out all over the road, all over the parking lot."
The water pipes in the back of the building had frozen — cracking and rupturing the pipes and sending water gushing through the dojo.
Hobson is facing at least four months of work before the damage is repaired.
"It's pretty overwhelming at the moment."
Hobson's dojo is just one of hundreds of homes and businesses affected by flooding during the cold spell that saw record-breaking low temperatures across the province.
Jay Rhodes says his restoration company has dealt with more than 50 calls in Kelowna alone since Christmas Eve.
"The calls have just kept coming," he said. "It started right before Christmas. And even if I go back to the floods in Princeton and Merritt — our team has just been going extremely hard."
He says poorly insulated pipes are the main culprit: everything from garden hose taps to fire suppression systems in attics.
"The pipes that are most at risk are going to be on the exterior walls," he said.
In the Vancouver area, many people living in older buildings are finding their heating systems are inadequate.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.