Flood mapping crashes to earth

Some of data collected for $1.45M Okanagan project may have been lost in fatal plane crash during summer

Flood-preparedness efforts in the Okanagan were set back when data was lost in an Alberta plane crash.

A pilot and a technician contracted by the Okanagan Basin Water Board to create a new type of highly detailed 3D map were killed when the plane went down southwest of Calgary as the pair returned to Alberta.

On board was some of the data collected as part of a $1.45-million program to prepare updated flood maps using a technology called LiDAR (light detection and ranging).

“The hard drive was recovered from the wreckage, and there’s an effort underway now to see how much of the data is still usable,” Anna Warwick Sears, director of the OBWB, said Monday.

“There was a tremendous amount of information there, so it all has to be gone through very carefully,” Sears said.

Heavy and persistent smoke in August also posed problems for the aerial mapping project, with many flights unable to proceed as planned.

“This has been an incredibly difficult and challenging project for everyone involved,” Sears said.

A 3D map generated using LiDAR technology is highly detailed and provides information to water managers about which areas are likely to experience flooding.

Working for a company contracted by the OBWB, pilot Daniel Thibeault and technician Levi VandenBrink had been taking LiDAR images this summer along the shoreline of Okanagan Lake and over upland areas.

They were flying back to Alberta on Aug. 1 when the plane crashed in Kannanaskis Country, about 100 kilometres southwest of Calgary. The LiDAR data had not been backed up; the intention was to do so at the company’s Calgary office.

Planes carrying LiDAR imaging technology are still making flights over the Okanagan, remapping some of the areas previously photographed, and will continue to do so until the snow comes, Sears said.

If necessary, flights will resume in the spring. A separate part of the project, involving traditional aerial photography, has already ended for the year because the angle of the sun creates too many shadows on the ground. Those flights were also delayed because of the summer smoke.

Existing flood plain maps cover only a few areas of the Okanagan and are up to 25 years old. The new maps, officials hope, will help to better identify low-lying areas most at risk at times of heavy rainfall, quick snowmelt and rising lake levels.