To the Editor,
Here is something for the Port Alberni newly elected to look into.
Since I moved here 11 years ago we have had numerous severe flooding incidents in the lower Third Avenue area and we hear after each one that the city engineer is developing plans and then looking for funding for his plans. The plan is to dig a ditch straight to the inlet from behind Smitty’s to drain Dry Creek quicker and thereby prevent flooding.
On every one of the floods there have been the same four things happen:
1) Severe winds from the south;
2) heavy rains;
3) very high tides; resulting in
4) thousands of dollars damage caused by street flooding.
Cutting a new channel to the inlet will only create a faster way of getting the flood waters to lower Third Avenue.
In the four-point scenario above we have no control over any of the events but we can control the water flow down Dry Creek by building a coffer dam behind the horseshoe park and having an electronically controlled dam gate that could be closed when necessary.
Continued / A11
From / A10
That could include an event containing the wind, rain and tides.
The closing of the dam would only be required for about two hours or until the tide starts to recede. Once the waning starts the water levels will fall naturally and the threat of flooding will be relieved.
The planned expenditure of another $10 million or so on digging a trench is ludicrous at best and is just throwing more good money after bad.
If council thinks I’m all wet then before they ask any questions of staff why not pose the theory I’ve presented to an out-of-town engineering firm and have them vet the plans?
After years of not doing anything concrete I would be willing to believe that councils past have left the present council in a tenuous position.
Dennis Dalla-Vicenza,
Cherry Creek