Ive heard the dikes on the Lower Fraser River are not high enough to withstand a major flood. Is that true?
Many communities of the Lower Fraser River rely on dikes to protect low-lying areas. A hydraulic modelling study by the Fraser Basin Council for the BC Ministry of Environment, completed in November, 2006, found that the Fraser River dikes would not be high enough in many locations to withstand a flood equivalent to the largest flood on record (in 1894). The study has predicted the water levels that would be associated with a major flood on the Lower Fraser to provide an up-to-date design flood profile. The dikes were built to a height that reflects an earlier flood profile from 1969. The recent FBC study was based on two scenarios: (a) a flood equivalent to the 1894 Fraser River freshet flood, combined with spring high-tide conditions (Fraser freshet profile), and (b) a one-in-200-year winter storm surge flood with winter high tide conditions combined with a Fraser River winter flow (the winter storm surge profile). In November, 2006 the results of the study were released. The flood p
