Flood time is now… let’s be proactive
“You have to make prevention. You have to be there before the ice is moving”
Paul Laplante, Owner of Eco Technologies in Caraquet, NB
Last year, in the aftermath of the terrible flood in Perth-Andover, Paul Laplante of Eco Technologies, his Caraquet based company, said he could have helped to prevent the ice jam had his company been called in time.
In an interview with CBC, Mr Laplante explained how his company specializes in breaking up river ice before it becomes a problem.
Eco Technologies uses floating excavators, nicknamed Frogs, to break up ice jams. The key to preventing ice jams, says Mr Laplante, is to break up the ice before the ice begins moving.
In other words, Eco Tec needs to be called in now to help prevent any potential flooding this year.
His company has successfully helped prevent floods in other provinces, such as Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, for years. He’d like to do business in his own province as well, and he said in this 2012 interview that he had approached the NB Government 12 years earlier but had never heard back.
That was last year. It is both ironic and tragic, not to mention flat out infuriating, that this New Brunswick company that specializes in river ice issues does not get contracted to help communities in its own home province.
“River Ice Jams” is a book published in 1995. Sypros Beltaos of the National Water Research Institute in Burlington, Ontario pulled together years of data and reports on river ice jams.
In this book, published 18 years ago, he reports that “it is now possible to apply scientific and emergency methods to solve many problems posed by ice jams. Research has provided a working understanding of the mechanics of ice jams. Techniques have been developed that allow consideration of their effect in engineering projects, or mitigation of their impact on riverside communities.”
So, there from two different sources, both experts in river ice management, we are assured that ice breaking, ice management and flood prevention are all completely doable… if you get mitigation engineering procedures and equipment in place ahead of the ice break up.
In stark contrast we have this letter from Gaetan Thomas, the President and CEO of NB Power Corporation.
He wrote this letter in reply to a poignant message sent to him a few weeks ago by Dr Ruth Eagan, Jennifer Eagan’s aunt.
Ruth lives at Victoria Villa, the Seniors Apartments Jennifer operates. This building had nearly 2 feet of water in the apartments, during the flood and necessitated evacuating 10 seniors.
By the grace of God no one was injured during the evacuation.
He assures Ruth that “as river flow increases, the Beechwood Generating Station cannot hold back or retain water”.
That is presumably to say that Beechwood is not able to deliberately sacrifice Perth-Andover.
But what about those unopened sluice gates?
He continues with “as in any river system, it is very difficult to predict when and if ice jams will occur in the Saint John River. A recent review concluded that breaking up the ice and moving it prematurely would increase the risk of ice jam flooding. As a result of this review we believe using an ice breaker could result in a more negative than positive impact on the river system.”
The Provincial Flood Mitigation Committee spent $400,000 as an investment to enhance monitoring and forecasting capacity; to provide real time flow and water level monitoring and risk assessments of ice break-up, and movement and ice jam formation.
So there’s a lot of money spent on monitoring….where’s the mitigation? From the steps not yet taken to address any mitigation issues….such as dredging and clearing that should have been done last summer, or contracting to use ice breakers this spring, one can only assume that that $400,000 was spent merely to tell us, Yep…you guys do have a problem.
Last year, in the CBC article discussing the ice breaking excavators of Eco Tec, Public Safety Minister Robert Trevors said he was aware of Laplante’s company and was considering calling him to help next year.
“They will be talked to, and get an opportunity, someone in the EMO [Emergency Measures Organization] will be in touch with them because I would like to see that happen,” Trevors said. Has EMO been in contact with Eco Technologies?
- Last year $5M was spent to fix the homes by DFA.
- None of the flood mitigation measures announced have been completed except for the $400,000 on monitoring and forecasting of movement and ice jam formation which quite frankly we can see by looking.
- The houses have not been relocated.
- Would it not be more cost effective not to mention humane and compassionate to give the people a real chance this year rather than leaving them to wait and pray?
It would be far more effective to just be PROACTIVE and get a company like Eco Technologies to come in NOW to make sure we don’t flood this year. Surely an ice breaker costs much less than another $5M to fix or buy out our homes again.
Stephanie Kelley & Stacey Kelley
