The Nass goes shopping

With their road to Terrace cut off by high water the villages of Kincolith and Greenville are preparing to lay in some supplies the old fashioned way, they're flying to Rupert in the morning having faxed ahead their list and they'll be taking them home on a fishing packer.

The Terrace Standard provided details of the shopping expedittion planned for Friday and what the conditions up the Nass are like at this time.

Nisga'a villages pull together
The Terrace Standard
5:17:16PM, Jun 07 2007

IN NISGA'A it's called Sayt K'ilim G'oot. In English that means 'with one heart" and that's the spirt being shown in two Nass Valley villages cut off when rising Nass River waters flooded the Nisga'a Highway June 5.

A chartered aircraft has taken four women from the village of Kincolith at the mouth of the Nass River to Prince Rupert this afternoon in preparation for a large shopping trip tomorrow morning.

"The list of what we need has been emailed down to the stores and they'll be ready for them when they open tomorrow," says Kincolith village official Clarence Martin.

Food and other supplies will then be packed in boxes by volunteers from the Prince Rupert Nisga'a community and taken down to the docks where a fish packer called the Born Free will make the six-hour trip to Kincolith.

"I was born here but never lived here but heard all about the spirit of the community. And I can say I've seen that spirit in action. Sayt K'ilim G'oot. With one heart. That's what's happening here," said Martin.'

The Born Free's captain is Fred Stewart, who is from Kincolith.

"And when it gets here, a volunteer crew from our emergency centre put together by Vince Lincoln will take over," Martin added.

He said Kincolith is used to dealing with outages and shortages over the years.
Until several years ago, there was no road to the village and it depended upon water transportation or floatplanes for supplies.

But even as Kincolith readies to ship in supplies, Martin said the village of greatest concern is Greenville upriver.

It's the lowest of the Nisga'a villages in the valley and the most vulnerable to flooding.
Greenville has also stocked up on supplies.

Skeena and Nass rivers on the rise
The Terrace Standard
4:25:58PM, Jun 07 2007

NORTHWEST RIVERS continue to run high and residents of Terrace and the Nass Valley can expect flood conditions through the weekend and into next week.

The Skeena River is currently experiencing a rise in flow and will continue to rise through Friday, according to River Forecast Centre head Allan Chapman at today's conference call.

The river may peak on Friday and flood conditions will continue until the end of next week, he said.

While the level of the Nass River had dropped on Tuesday, it began rising Wednesday night and is expected to continue through Friday, Chapman said.

The water will remain above flood stage until the middle of next week.

The Bulkley River continues to experience the largest flow ever, having broken the record on Tuesday and remains above that level, he said.

A large rainstorm brought 25 mm of rain that helped keep its water levels high.