What a once-in-a-millennium flood looks like

[robkelk]

Ottawa had a once-in-a-century flood two years ago. This year's flooding is worse.

Water flowing over the top of a hydroelectric dam east of Ottawa, on a tributary that drains into the Ottawa River downstream of Ottawa and upstream of Montreal:



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The shoreline at the beach near Ottawa's water treatment plant, as of yesterday:



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Here's a detour that's washed out:



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Ottawa is under a state of emergency.

Oh, and we're getting another 35mm of rain/snow today and tomorrow.

(I live on high ground, and I have enough bottled potable water to last two days - more than enough time to drive out of town, buy more, and drive back. Don't worry about me.)


Oh, yes - we aren't the only ones affected.

The Trans-Canada Highway is washed out between Mattawa and Deep River. Traffic is being diverted through Algonquin Park, adding over an hour to travel time.

The Trans-Canada Highway is washed out between Fredericton and Moncton. Traffic is being diverted along the Bay of Fundy via Saint John, adding over a half-hour to travel time.

And, while the TCH is okay in Quebec, many of the cities along the St. Laurence aren't... including Montreal.

[classicdrogn]

Looks kind of familiar actually, though on a considerably wider scale. Still enough to know you're not really having fun right now, so keep your chin up and all.

Stuff about the Alstead flood

"Thirty foot wall of water" as reported in there is only true in the most technical sense, as that was the height of the roadway with the culvert that got blocked by debris until the weight of the water and erosion from being washed over collapsed it. The long vertical pan from the edge of a washed away road you see was one end of that where the culverted side road met the main road. Actually traveling down the valley it was only about waist high, though that was still quite menacing enough when I was in a car that didn't get swept away only because we saw it coming and backed around a corner and up a hill in the couple seconds between when it surged ahead at the end of a long straightaway and when it reached the bottom. Sadly, "thirty foot wall of water" makes a much better sound bite than "three foot wall of water" and mum is a bit dramatic.

The funny thing about the whole situation was that while every other bridge and culvert etc. for a good fifty miles was washed out, the 20ft wooden bridge I'd built over the river, which had been fully submerged under fast flowing water despite being a good four feet higher than the usual surface of the river for two days and had boulders bouncing over it after the bank on the end without a big old tree to keep it intact with its root system eroded away, was still in exactly the same place on the other end and intact aside from a lot of scuffing due to how much it was overbuilt - we'd driven a pickup across it a couple times and it flexed less than having someone stand in the middle and jump at the resonant frequency. It wasn't in the course of the big surge, but still, neither were most of those roadway culverts and bridges. Six 2x12 stringers a foot apart with full-height crossbraces between them every 18in and rough (that is, not planed thinner to provide a smooth surface) 2x10 deck planks, all held together by excessive numbers of those long wood screws you put in with an electric drill and anchored at the ends by a ten foot long pressure treated 8x8 buried sideways under the gravel ramp. Afterward, it was hauled out of the riverbed with a bulldozer, cut in two for transport, and turned into a deck. That bridge was a fucking masterpiece

[robkelk]

And, while the TCH is okay in Quebec...

That was yesterday.

The Trans-Canada Highway is now closed in Montreal. It isn't washed out yet, but the Ministry of Transport isn't taking any chances with the older bridge.



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The detour is along a highway that normally has a toll to use the bridge - tolls have been cancelled for now. "However, Transports Québec is asking motorists in the area to stay home if possible."

[robkelk]

Thousands forced to flee Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac (near Montreal) after a dike breached

Marc Garneau, Canada's minister of transport, has restricted the use of boats in flooded zones — including those around Montreal.

In a statement published Saturday evening, non-emergency vessels are prohibited in parts of the Ottawa River near the capital city, but also in the Montreal area, including the Lake of Two Mountains, the Mille-Îles River and the Rivière-des-Prairies.

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The St. John River in New Brunswick appears to have peaked, assuming no more rain for a while. However, today's forecast for the Fredericton area is "chance of showers".




Source (with a video)

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Here's a video of the bridge beside the hydroelectric dam in downtown Ottawa. This is one of the arterial routes. It's now closed.

The sandbag wall near Ottawa's water purification plant has been breached. A second wall is in place.


And the Ottawa River is still rising. (Also, the forecast calls for more rain on Wednesday.)

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Pembroke's marina has lost its lighthouse to the flooding.



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I'll finish off this post with a few images from this collection.


Drone footage of the hydroelectric dam in downtown Ottawa - water levels are at a record high:




Fitzroy Harbour, a heavily-wooded suburb upstream of downtown Ottawa:




Sandbag delivery:

[Labster]

That looks very wet, in terms of water.

[robkelk]

It is. And we're expecting more.

I'll find out in the morning whether any of the offices I support are closed.

[robkelk]

Offices are open.

Water is supposed to start cresting today... but the forecast calls for rain tomorrow, going for three days.

[robkelk]

At least in this particular neighbourhood, the Ottawa River has risen above the sandbag wall.



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We're expecting the Ottawa River to crest on Wednesday. Maybe. We're also expecting snow on Wednesday, changing to ice, changing to rain for the rest of the week - which means that if it does crest, it'll stay at that level for a while.


And in a decidedly not funny example of irony, a house surrounded by water caught fire.



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[Bob Schroeck]

Rob, are you okay? It's been more than the two days you said you had water for, and you have been rather deficient in details about your situation.

[robkelk]

I'm fine. I'm nowhere near a flood plain, and the city hasn't had any problems with the water treatment plant so far. That two-day supply of water is still unopened.

The sewage treatment plant, OTOH, is close to being swamped, so showers have moved from an "everyday" thing to an "every other day" thing. (Luckily, I have plenty of clean clothes.) That's the only way I've been directly affected so far.

[Bob Schroeck]

Good to hear. Stay safe.

[robkelk]

Water levels have finally peaked.

They aren't dropping soon - we have some precipitation in the forecast and snow further north is still melting - but at least it isn't getting any worse.

[robkelk]

And the forecast is for precipitation today and tomorrow. Everybody with sandbag walls have been advised to leave them in place.

[robkelk]

Just what we needed to discover during a flood: There are century-old gas canisters buried on Victoria Island — and they could go boom

For folks who don't know downtown Ottawa like the back of their hand, Victoria Island is directly under one of the major bridges connecting Ottawa and Gatineau, and sits between the Supreme Court building (on the Ottawa side of the Ottawa River) and the largest single government office complex in downtown Ottawa (on the Gatineau side). It's also within a couple hundred meters of the downtown hydroelectric plant.

"We're not 100 per cent sure exactly what is in the canisters.... We know for sure that there is acetylene gas. He was using asbestos as a packing material, and they were also using acetone to stabilize the canister," [Chris] Falconi said.

"Very dangerous stuff. Definitely stuff that you don't want to be breathing in, but most importantly, they can actually be highly explosive as well."

And they have to be vented, one at a time.

"Blowing things up in downtown Ottawa typically doesn't go well."

Of course the valves have rusted away. Robot drill to the rescue...

[Star Ranger4]

*falls over at this, even though he is thousands of miles away, Rob!!!*

[classicdrogn]

Also hundreds of miles away, also cringed and shuddered like a blackboard fingernail orchestra was tuning up when you described the situation. Just... just stay well the fuck away from that until they're done dealing with it, right?

At least they did find out about it now, rather than when stuff started exploding or releasing plumes of invisible toxic gas right under a major thoroughfare.

[Bob Schroeck]

Ack. This is... gah. I have no words.

[robkelk]

Also hundreds of miles away, also cringed and shuddered like a blackboard fingernail orchestra was tuning up when you described the situation. Just... just stay well the fuck away from that until they're done dealing with it, right?

Unfortunately, one of the datacentres I support is in the aforementioned complex. Overlooking Victoria Island, of course.

[Black Aeronaut]

Apropos.

[Star Ranger4]

Indeed BA

[robkelk]

It's been a while since I posted here. Let's see...

The flood waters are receding, and the cleanup has begun. Ottawa is still technically under a state of emergency.

We've had a tornado.

Oh, and my "home base" office has moved downtown. There's less than a half-dozen city blocks between my new office and Victoria Island. (Granted, there's also a few decent-size buildings in those blocks.) And they gave me a window office - guess which way it faces.

[classicdrogn]

Well, on the upside... snazzy office with a window. You're movin' on up!

[DHBirr]

Well, on the upside... snazzy office with a window. You're movin' on up!

"Moving up" is NOT the concept we want to invoke, when talking about something that could blast him sky-high if someone screws up.

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Considering that one dictionary definition of "carry on" is to "behave or speak in a foolish, excited, or improper manner," the designers of that famous poster, "Keep Calm and Carry On," need to make up their flippin' minds!

[robkelk]

The view out the window is of a larger building. So I'm shielded.

[Epsilon]

Far worse than potential death via improperly stored explosives is having to deal with traffic in downtown Ottawa.

The place where traffic was once so backed up I got off a bus on one end of downtown, walked all the way the other end and caught a bus of the same route way ahead of it.