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

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

#451

Post by stanmancan »

Kluny wrote: post #372
stanmancan wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Itt: People telling about how the flooding has directly and severely impacted their lives, and commenters who got lucky explaining how it's actually not a big deal.

I mean I live in the lower mainland and I know exactly 0 people who have personally experienced any damage or loss. Given that I have friends all over the Lower Mainland and Interior BC and family up and down Vancouver Island it’s a decent sample size.

I have empathy for those who are going through hell right now but I’m just pointing out that your assessment of “nearly everyone” is way off base.

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

#452

Post by satori99 »

int_19h wrote: post #333
luggage_problem wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a decent number of folks in the Washington ski/climb/do-things-in-remote-areas scene who have em, though more common is the type that doesn't let you sms and doesn't have a monthly fee (basically a please help or I'm not getting home button). That said most of my friends with inreaches don't have the unlimited sms plan, and just budget the limited number for check-ins.

For pure emergency location beacons, there's an option that does not require any monthly fees at all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Cospas-Sarsat_Pr... And yes, it's generally a good idea for anybody hiking in areas without cell phone reception - even if it's not particularly far out from populated areas! I live in North Bend, WA, and it feels like almost every year there's at least one hiker lost on on…

In Australia the authorities literally beg people not to travel in the outback without a Personal locator Beacon.

Just a few days ago a family was rescued after becoming stuck in the Simpson Desert and activating their beacon.

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/travel-stories...

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

#453

Post by vkou »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #118
lhorie wrote: 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.

The big issue is that half of Abbotsford may well turn into a lake, and Chilliwack will become completely cut off from the world (because of damage to the highways further east, and the flooding in Abbotsford.)

And unlike Vancouver, it can't just get food and animal feed brought in by ship/from the Peace Arch border crossing.

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

#454

Post by vkou »

wheelinsupial wrote: post #357
JPKab wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait a minute now: I've been to Vancouver before, but I"m completely ignorant about the supply chain there. We're talking about a metropolis of 2.5 million people. What's the impact on food supplies, fuel, etc? Very curious. Is it primarily coming up from the US???

There are two areas under discussion here. Vancouver, which goes by a bunch of different names including Metro Vancouver Regional District, is the 2.5 mil that you’re talking about. The second piece is the Fraser Valley Regional District, this is everything else east of Vancouver up to and including Hope. This is another 600k people. FVRD is where the impacts are so far. I mentioned in another comment that I’m in Chi…

To clarify on that last point - there is a single pumping station that is working to keep the Fraser river from turning half of the city of Abbotsford into a lake.

That station is under threat of failure, due to rising floodwaters.

If it fails, that's it. Half the town will be under ten feet of water, that has nowhere to drain. I don't mean 'nowhere to drain until next week' - I mean 'nowhere to drain, period.'

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

#455

Post by darksaints »

lhorie wrote: 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…

There was a case study I read in some supply chain courses a while back that was about supply disruptions in supermarkets due to a temporary but unforseen border closure somewhere in Central Europe. I don't remember exact numbers, but the relationship between the number of missed supply trucks and products out of stock was roughly exponential. After a single truck, there were like a dozen products out of stock. But after a second truck, there were over 400 products out of stock. By the fifth missed truck, 20% of the entire store was out of stock.

Since most stores have distribution centers that can break up replenishment into small increments, grocery stores typically use a method of inventory management that "tops up" inventory levels on a scheduled basis. High demand items might get replenished once a day or more, while some might get replenished on 2, 3, 4 day intervals all the way up to monthly intervals for low demand durable items. Replenishment schedules are staggered on a per-SKU basis, so that the number of trucks per day is roughly constant.

The short story is that delayed trucks might be a tiny annoyance, but a full supply disruption can cause utter chaos in less than a week. If reroutes through the US aren't facilitated, you can expect to see all of the most commonly purchased items in your grocery store out of stock far sooner than you expect.

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

#456

Post by Spivak »

yodsanklai wrote: post #289
Spivak wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more nuanced than this. Like you're right that reducing consumption/commerce would help but it has trade-offs that lots of people don't jive with and isn't really the root of the problem which is waste. There is zero issue with goods made and distributed using renewables, or goods where non-renewables are reclaimed (i.e. metals, glass, certain plastics).

> There is zero issue with goods made and distributed using renewables But how much of the goods we consume fall in that category?

Zero, but that's not really the point. It's when you're looking at policy changes you need to pick a direction and set goals. And I think "make consumption sustainable" is way more achievable then "reduce consumption." Because the only scalable way to reduce consumption is to make most people poorer. It's hard to herd billions of people to do something against their interest.

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

#457

Post by sbarre »

cal5k wrote: post #414
philistine wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for eloquently describing why Canada has chosen a different path than the USA. Banking, for example, is such a clear-cut case of competition not being detrimental for Canadians. For example, I've seen Americans laugh at Canadians on Reddit for not having the Cash app when our equivalent service is available directly from our banks (with a shitty UI, sure) and free. I pay my plumber with e-transfer and could…

Canadian banks are the most profitable in the western world, because we pay the highest fees in the western world. A lot of it is hidden - Canadian banks charge outrageous sums of money for foreign exchange fees. Credit card interchange fees are reliably a full 1% higher than in the US. e-Transfers are intentionally limited in size so that banks can still make their money on credit card payments etc. Interac is a ban…

This is all true.

What is also true is that Canada has never had anything like the S&L scandal in the 90s or the 2008 US financial crisis where massive swaths of the working class lost much of their savings.

So sure, we have higher fees due to regulatory capture, but I'll take that trade to know that some unregulated finance bros aren't fucking around with my life savings.

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

#458

Post by cmrdporcupine »

jacquesm wrote: post #432
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was young and poor and crazy, I did the Greyhound trip to/from the GTA to the prairies a couple times and that is just the most insane stretch of highway ever, so mind boggling how long it takes. Lakes and rocks and lakes and rocks and lakes and rocks and trees and rocks and lakes... Sleeping pills, muscle relaxants, reading the entire Dune series from beginning to end, and waking up finding that you've fallen…

I think pbourke is talking about roads substantially North of that. There are bush roads going west from Timmins all the way to Wawa, there is absolutely nothing there but trees, and Greyhounds don't drive there, in fact the only thing you find there that drives is hunters and logging machinery.

Sudbury to Kenora is usually done by the Transcanada. But yes, I imagine the roads north from there are seriously no-mans land.

I grew up driving around the forestry roads and cutlines of the foothills in Alberta with my canoeing parents, but that is far less isolated than northern Ontario. I always find it surprising.

I'd like to live up there somewhere, but my wife isn't game to the idea.

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

#459

Post by Kluny »

stanmancan wrote: post #451
Kluny wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Itt: People telling about how the flooding has directly and severely impacted their lives, and commenters who got lucky explaining how it's actually not a big deal.

I mean I live in the lower mainland and I know exactly 0 people who have personally experienced any damage or loss. Given that I have friends all over the Lower Mainland and Interior BC and family up and down Vancouver Island it’s a decent sample size. I have empathy for those who are going through hell right now but I’m just pointing out that your assessment of “nearly everyone” is way off base.

Meanwhile I’ve got relatives evacuated from Merritt, classmates who won’t be able to attend class for a week, and almost everyone I know lost power over the weekend. Facebook is full of people asking for fans and pumps to dry out their basements (including people I know personally). You say look at the bigger picture but you’re counting your personal experience as the best indicator of it. I’d suggest the news is showing the bigger picture.

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

#460

Post by wheelinsupial »

vkou wrote: post #454
wheelinsupial wrote: post #357

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two areas under discussion here. Vancouver, which goes by a bunch of different names including Metro Vancouver Regional District, is the 2.5 mil that you’re talking about. The second piece is the Fraser Valley Regional District, this is everything else east of Vancouver up to and including Hope. This is another 600k people. FVRD is where the impacts are so far. I mentioned in another comment that I’m in Chi…

To clarify on that last point - there is a single pumping station that is working to keep the Fraser river from turning half of the city of Abbotsford into a lake. That station is under threat of failure, due to rising floodwaters. If it fails, that's it. Half the town will be under ten feet of water, that has nowhere to drain. I don't mean 'nowhere to drain until next week' - I mean 'nowhere to drain, period.'

> Nowhere to drain, period

Because the Sumas Prairie, the location with the imminent threat of flooding, was originally a lake. It was drained in the 1920s to claim farm land for the Fraser Valley. This is reversion to the natural state.

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