The scientific debate about global warming is over. It is coming faster than anticipated. It is largely caused by human activities. What will it cost you?
Think of the havoc caused by the flooding from Hurricane Sandy. Think of the swollen Fraser River.
Vancouver vulnerable to the ravages of global warming, researchers say (Part 1 of 3)
Extreme weather systems may wreak havoc
“If you have a warmer atmosphere, you’re probably going to get more rain, so in the mid-latitude you could get a sequence of big storms,” said Gordon McBean, professor at Western University and director for research at the centre for environment and sustainability.
“The first couple of them could deposit all of their rain over the Interior of B.C., making the flow down the Fraser even larger, then at the same time, the winds blow the ocean over Georgia Strait, then you’ve got this extra water in the Fraser River running past New Westminster and hitting Ladner, the airport and areas under the Oak Street Bridge.
“This water is coming down the river at the same time as the wind is pushing the water from the Georgia Strait towards it so you get this kind of double effect.”
“In an OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) report, Vancouver is rated 15th (in the world) for exposed assets, with $55 billion at risk, and 32nd in terms of population at risk, with 320,000 people exposed,” CCAR says, listing the infrastructure at risk in Vancouver as highways, sewer systems, waste treatment facilities, shipping and ferry terminals and the airport.
Farmland, residential and industrial areas would be at risk, and about 220,000 of the 320,000 people at risk in the area live at or below sea level, protected by 127 kilometres of dikes that were not built to withstand sea level rise.
In January 2011, the province of B.C. released new sea dike guidelines and new guidelines for use of coastal land that is at risk of flooding. It predicted sea levels would rise 1.2 metres over 100 years, although the rise is not expected to be uniform across the province and there is uncertainty over how quickly the rise will occur.
“If things go really badly, and our emissions really take off — which quite honestly, they are taking off; we’re way above the worst-case scenarios that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change based all of its projections on — (the 1.2-metre sea level rise) could happen in 50 years,” Harford said. “In the very worst-case scenario it could happen in 20 years.”
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Metro Vancouver dike improvements could cost $9.5 billion by 2100: new report (with video)
METRO VANCOUVER - Combating rising sea levels due to global warming could cost $9.5 billion in flood-protection improvements in Metro Vancouver — including sea gates at False Creek and Steveston — by 2100, according to a report released Tuesday by the B.C. government.
The report, Cost of Adaptation - Sea Dikes and Alternative Strategies, covers the Metro Vancouver coastal shoreline and the Fraser River downstream of Port Mann Bridge — an area with more than 250 kilometres of shoreline...
The Delcan report singled out three areas in the region for potential special protective measures:
- False Creek: A $25-million sea gate would allow the movement of water and boats through during normal water levels but would be closed during storm conditions to limit sea levels and reduce the height of shoreline defences needed around the perimeter of False Creek.
- Steveston: Use Shady Island as part of a breakwater/barrier with a sea gate to protect a densely developed waterfront with historic buildings at an estimated cost $10 million.
- Mud Bay, Surrey: Sea gates at the mouths of the Nicomekl and Serpentine rivers at a cost of $10 million each, along with a "managed retreat" or gradual decommission of development in the area....
Seismic upgrades would be prohibitive on some stretches of dike, including on a total of 35 kilometres of dikes in Richmond and Surrey fronting the Fraser River, at more than $80,000 per metre. Options could include realignment of the dike, construction of a wide "superdike," or limited seismic ground improvement, the report found...
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