The City of Richmond has completed its investigation into the flooding of Mitchell Island between Christmas and New Year.
The city said the combination of a king tide and a “significant storm surge event” contributed to the flood on the industrial swathe of land on Dec. 27 which resulted in “close to record high levels” of water.
The island – on the Fraser River between Richmond and Vancouver – was cut off for several hours, with some workers telling of the waters partially submerging vehicles in the space of 10 to 15 minutes.
A tweet posted by the city on the day of the flood indicated that all of the city’s pumps on the island were “operating properly” but that an investigation would take place.
A spokesperson for the city told the Richmond News that it does have a long-term flood protection strategy for Mitchell Island, which was “developed in consultation with local businesses.”
However, in the short-term, “we are working with impacted property owners to identify solutions and encourage the construction of private flood protection infrastructure to protect their low-lying properties, and installing interim measures to prevent flooding along Mitchell Road,” explained the city spokesperson.
“The flooding on Mitchell Island resulted from river levels exceeding the elevation of some low-lying land along the riverfront that is prone to flooding during long return period high water events.”
The city’s long-term plan includes acquiring rights-of-ways along river bank properties to “facilitate a future dike, and encourage land raising to facilitate construction of a “superdike” on Mitchell Island.”
The News also reported that week how the city's flood defences appeared to hold up against the king tide and rain storm at Britannia Heritage Shipyards in Steveston.
There was, however, signs of flooding at London Landing in Steveston during the peak of the king tide.
