The chill that started just before Christmas has been particularly hard on the house challenged population of Campbell River, Quadra island and Cortes island.
Some people are living in uninsulated cabins, trailers, boats, cars and tents.
Continue reading Campbell River, Cortes, Quadra – Cold snap impacts a house challenged populationThe panic buying that swept throughout Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland last week has not reached Cortes Island.
Eva, from the Gorge Harbour General store suggested that, “People on Cortes are probably better prepared.”
The only place she noticed the shortage was gasoline, because the provincial government was limiting sales to 30 litres.
Curt Cunningham, from the Squirrel Cove General Store, believes that rationing boosted his gasoline sales 50% – because most people purchased up to the limit!
Continue reading Two ferries away from Vancouver Island: No food or gas shortages on Cortes IslandCKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca
The historic storm that hit the Pacific Northwest region on Oct. 24 caused loss of power to tens of thousands of households across the province. The storm has been called a “weather bomb” by the Weather Network, and it set the record for lowest barometric pressure of 942.6 millibars recorded offshore near Tofino.
Cortes experienced one of the longest island-wide power outages in recent years, which lasted close to 48 hours in some neighbourhoods. Most people lost power early Sunday afternoon and waited until mid-morning on Tuesday for electricity that, in many cases, also enables running water.
Continue reading Behind the scenes at BC Hydro repairs after recent ‘weather bomb’UBC marine ecologist Dr. Chris Harley initially told the media that more than a billion mussels, clams, sea stars and other invertebrates may have cooked to death in the area between Campbell River and Washington state. That was a ‘back of the envelope’ estimate, based on his observations among the Lower Mainland’s mussel population and some preliminary reports. Harley has done a great deal more research since then. He now guesstimates that, conservatively speaking, the number of marine fatalities during last June’s heat wave is closer to 10 billion.
Continue reading Heat wave killed far more marine animals than originally thought, says scientistCKTZ News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Closely observing and responding to weather fluctuations has always been key to a grower’s success, however the recent extreme heat in early July is forcing farmers to rethink plans for future resiliency.
“This heat dome was the first time where I actually felt, holy crap, here it comes. We’ve been talking about it, we’ve been hearing the impact of the droughts in some of our southern neighbours. We’re going to have to get a lot stronger about how we’re doing things and how we’re supporting each other as community members and how we can support the food producers,” said Tamara McPhail.
Continue reading How island growers are adapting to the dry summer heat
