District of North Vancouver council has approved an emergency response plan following the atmospheric river swept through the area last fall, causing catastrophic damage.
At their Monday, June 23 meeting, council gave staff the go-ahead to implement short term recommendations to help mitigate impacts and improve the district’s response to future storms.
Recommendations were divided up into four categories – mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
A few short-term recommendations staff suggested include establishing more procedures for weather warnings, exploring options to expedite risk reduction projects on private property, developing emergency response plans for vulnerable locations and providing training for staff to handle emergency calls efficiently.
“With all emergencies of this magnitude, not everything goes perfectly,” said Peter Cohen, general manager for the district’s engineering infrastructure services. “This type of post-event review is something that aligns with our culture of wanting to continuously learn with the goal of making our community more resilient in the future to these types of major storms.”
Record breaking rains swept through Metro Vancouver between Oct. 18 to 20, with 344 millimetres recorded over three days in North Vancouver.
Deep Cove, Woodlands, Grousewoods, Lower Mackay and Lynn Valley were some of the hardest-hit areas in the district. Residents and businesses experienced flooding, people were trapped in vehicles, debris blocked culverts leading to road washouts, and both the sanitary and storm sewers experienced backups.
The district also declared a state of local emergency and issued a mandatory evacuation order for six properties on Panorama Drive in Deep Cove due to flooding on Oct. 20. Another evacuation order was put into place six days later for three more homes in Deep Cove over concerns about debris cascading downhill.
Council spoke in favour of the plan, thanking staff for their efforts during last year’s storm.
“I think so many things worked well, and I do want to thank all the staff that had pitched in and were there to support on a crazy day,” Coun. Jordan Back said. “I will always remember the helpless feeling though of watching neighbours homes being flooded and really not knowing what we could be doing. So I think there were obviously a lot of areas where we could improve.”
Some of the short-term actions are already underway, staff said, including improving overland flow paths on Fromme Road and “tweaks” to the Gallant Avenue culvert.
Coun. Lisa Muri stressed the importance of fixing these areas to protect residents and homes in Deep Cove. She also asked staff to add another rain gauge in the neighbourhood.
Staff said they are looking at modifications to the grates so more debris can pass through to the ocean.
“We just have to have all hands on deck and address these issues for the next storm season while we’re working through all this very important work,” Muri said.
Coun. Catherine Pope raised concerns about a five-month delay in the report and along with worries that there won’t be enough for climate remediation work in the 2025 budget.
“For that delay, we had to plan the 2025 budget with no data and no numbers to account for severe climate impacts,” Pope said, adding that she’s glad the cost of future recommendations is proposed in next year’s budget.
Mayor Mike Little said the plan is a good starting point in looking at what the district can do to become more resilient during the next significant rain event.
Medium and long-term recommendations will be considered as part of the future annual financial planning process in 2026 and 2027, staff said.
Staff will report back to council in the fall on the plan’s progress.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
https://bsky.app/profile/abbyluciano.bsky.social
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