Live data from Hacker News

There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

kelownanow.com

361–370 of 477 posts

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The BC Milk Marketing Board has told many of its producers to begin destroying their output until further notice since there is no means of transporting it: https://bcmilk.com/notice-to-producers-flood-conditions-and-... Vancouver's surrounding agricultural areas, lush as they are, will now be almost out of commission for an indefinite length of time.

Dump, dump! Just whatever you don't sell 4 l of organic milk to a local for five bucks; they will get used to it.

The milk board managers must be quaking in their boots realizing that some milk could get sold without them getting their slice of the take.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#362
post #354
post #100

For just a bit of context/anecdata, I'm talking to my brother who lives in Vancouver and he wasn't even aware this was a problem. The road closure[0] on hwy 1 near Abbotsford/Chilliwack is a good one hour drive away from Vancouver core[1]. So while it sounds noteworthy for an entire city be technically flooded in, unless you were driving to the boonies, you're probably not actually impacted in any meaningful way. He…

Almost everyone in Vancouver, Vancouver Island, all over BC really, has flooded basements and other stuff to deal with. My school closed down due to power outages, for example. The road to the local landfill has washed out. Half of my classmates were without power last night, and one of them is on the wrong side of a mountain pass and will miss class today. Our teacher has decided not to bother trying to get to campu…

I wouldn’t say almost everyone; majority of people are fine but there’s definitely many people who have to deal with flooding and water damage.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#363
post #100

For just a bit of context/anecdata, I'm talking to my brother who lives in Vancouver and he wasn't even aware this was a problem. The road closure[0] on hwy 1 near Abbotsford/Chilliwack is a good one hour drive away from Vancouver core[1]. So while it sounds noteworthy for an entire city be technically flooded in, unless you were driving to the boonies, you're probably not actually impacted in any meaningful way. He…

- If it is possible to come and go via the US, I wonder if a special allowance will be made for that

- I vaguely remember some major city in Alaska was said to have no road to the outside world? Google Maps shows a route from Anchorage to Juneau, but it goes through Canada.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's hope it migrates further south and relieves some of the California drought. Any meteorologists have a sense of the weather patterns at play here?

It looks like we will be in another La Nina year, which means wetter northwest and drier southwest.. unfortunately. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/us/la-nina-california-dro...

That's not saying much anymore - the systems getting more and more unpredictable. The last La Nina was also supposed to worsen the ongoing drought but ended up dumping so much water that the state of emergency (or whatever its called) was withdrawn that March. IIRC it did dry out the San Diego area a bit, where the drought wasn't as bad.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#365
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had a nickel for every time folks have suggested moving out to the country as a solution to the housing crisis...

Did someone suggest that?

It comes up pretty frequently, in topics about remote work, housing crisis, homelessness, minimum wages, etc.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#366
post #100

For just a bit of context/anecdata, I'm talking to my brother who lives in Vancouver and he wasn't even aware this was a problem. The road closure[0] on hwy 1 near Abbotsford/Chilliwack is a good one hour drive away from Vancouver core[1]. So while it sounds noteworthy for an entire city be technically flooded in, unless you were driving to the boonies, you're probably not actually impacted in any meaningful way. He…

The big issue is that the port in Vancouver is now essentially an island. Rail is impacted by this as well.

Sounds bad for supply chain.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#367

A different article[1] I read with a similar headline has this claim: > To leave the Lower Mainland of BC, you would have to use Highway 99, Highway 1, or the Coquihalla. I'm not at all familiar with the area. Are there really only 3 roads between Vancouver and the rest of Canada without going through Washington? That seems like such a low number. [1] https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/highway-closures-flooding-mu...

Open up the google maps of BC and turn on satellite view and you'll see why. The whole province is all mountain with the only roads snaking through the few river valleys and mountain passes. Big province, but remarkably little actual habitable land.

The vicinity of Prince George looks like it has enough habitable land to fit the whole population of California into a small corner, but I agree that most of the province is very hostile to human life and transportation networks. I'm from Oregon. We have Mount Hood. It's weird to see a mountain that looks like Mount Hood next to another mountain that looks like Mount Hood, in front of a dozen more mountains that look like Mount Hood, in front of hundreds or thousands more, and so on. It's intimidating even just to look at.

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That garmin is a cool toy, but pricey ($400 for the device plus $50/mo for unlimited text service). What does your family member do that they have one? It seems like the kind of thing a park ranger would have, or that someone might rent before going on a long hike in a remote area.

I live in a very rural area of the US, so I probably have an over-representative sample, but mostly folks I know who own one (myself included) view it at as an essential piece of backcountry safety equipment. If you spend 1 or 2 weekends per month in areas without cell signal (even recreationally, as is my case), it quickly becomes worthwhile even just as a means of emergency communication for people to contact _you_…

I heard that cell phone services near NYC were down during 9/11. If a similar event that disrupted regional cell phone towers were to happen again, a garmin inreach would allow me to stay connected right? Since it's not dependent on the infrastructure near the user (and this is assuming a regional event where cell phone services are not overloaded / down in a different country, so that you can reach the 2nd party)

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#369
post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should be able to continue, albeit delayed, via the US. Should be possible to head south into Washington State and re-enter Canada at Oroville-Osoyoos.

sure, they just have to hope the north cascades highway is open when the snow-levels are already lowering from these storms. Usually that highway is closed during the winter season

Closed for the season: https://wsdot.com/travel/real-time/mountainpasses/North-Casc...

Re: There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

#370
post #325
post #100

For just a bit of context/anecdata, I'm talking to my brother who lives in Vancouver and he wasn't even aware this was a problem. The road closure[0] on hwy 1 near Abbotsford/Chilliwack is a good one hour drive away from Vancouver core[1]. So while it sounds noteworthy for an entire city be technically flooded in, unless you were driving to the boonies, you're probably not actually impacted in any meaningful way. He…

If you live in Vancouver and are staying there it is not an issue. But there is an amazing huge scale issue of access to the interior of British Columbia. 2 out of 3 highways from Alberta are closed. That means you have to drive either an ~ extra 500 miles north, or south, to travel 50-100 miles west or east. There is no way to travel across a whole region of a huge country. Similar to closing all east west highways…

I live in Vancouver. It absolutely is an issue. It’s a huge issue. We are the primary port for western Canada. All shipments that would have been routed via road and rail travel through Vancouver now need to be rerouted either via air or through the USA. Gas shipments are going to be complicated. Food shipments are going to be complicated.

These highways that are closed due to collapse are built into the side of mountains and require significant engineering testing in order to be deemed safe to rebuild on, not taking into account the amount of engineering that’s required to actually safely and sustainably rebuild them. Suburbs of Vancouver (Abbotsford) are essentially underwater.

It is patently false to say this isn’t an issue for people who are living and staying in Vancouver. Hell, even major highways within Vancouver have been shut down. These are much more temporary shutdowns than the primary highways out of town, but still require respecting in order to repair and restore which limits travel.

Post reply on HN