A retired Environment Canada meteorologist says it’s well past time for Nova Scotia to work with the federal government to built a robust prediction, detection and alert system for flash flooding.
Police said Friday that a young person was killed the night before when they were swept away by a flash-flood in a Wolfville, N.S. park.
RCMP said they got a call about the youth being pulled into a flooded ditch at 7:30 p.m., and a regional emergency management coordinator says the province’s Emergency Management Office issued alerts about flash floods in the region about an hour later.
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Jim Abraham, who was the first manager of the Canadian Hurricane Centre, says a well-developed flooding alert system would have seen alerts sent to people’s phones much earlier, asking them to shelter in place because of the high risk of flooding.
He says that system should also involve public education that would inform people in areas prone to flash floods about both the risks and the parts of their neighborhoods considered especially dangerous.
Last year, flooding in the municipality of West Hants killed four people, including three children, prompting a review that found the municipality faced several challenges in transmitting timely emergency alerts to the public.
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