Rocks ‘ the size of a house’ slide into Seymour River, partly block flow
Metro Vancouver officials and hired experts are closely monitoring a rock slide that partly blocked the Seymour River on Sunday morning.
While there is no immediate threat to homes and people along the Seymour River, say officials, they have geotechnical experts and hydrologists assessing the rock slide and the water backed up behind it, as more rain is forecast for this week.
Walking and biking trails in the area have been closed as a precautionary measure.
The slide took place about one kilometre from the north end of Riverside Drive, just beneath the Twin Bridges. The Fisherman’s trailhead has been cordoned off with police tape.
“We’ve had some geotechnical people look at it, and our own engineers, and it is a sizable and significant rockfall,” Mike Mayers, Metro Vancouver’s superintendent environmental management, said Sunday afternoon.
“It dammed up some water and now the water is spilling over the rockfall which is not in our minds, right now, posing any risk. These rocks are the size of a house, so they are not going to be mobilized by water,” he said.
A pool that has been created behind the rock slide appears to have reached an equilibrium at a level just below the Twin Bridges, which takes a hiking trail across the river, said Mayers after an on- the- ground visit and flight overhead by helicopter.
Municipal officials hope to get a better understanding of whether rain and an increase in water in the river will simply lead to an increase in flow over the rock slide, he said.
Mayers did not know what they might do about the slide, but said they will be coming up with information on the shortterm and long- term effects.
He noted these type of events happen from time to time, perhaps 100 years or so.
Riverside Drive resident John Austin only learned of the landslide when police and other emergency personnel arrived in the morning. He said they did not hear any sound or notice anything that would have indicated something had happened.
He’s concerned about the forecast for heavy rains.
North Shore Rescue called on the public to respect the trail barriers for their safety.