The Daily News on Friday featured a story about the resourcefulness of Hawk air in Terrace, in coming to the aid of some stranded students earlier in the week. The story about a class from Roosevelt which found itself on the wrong side of the flood made the front page of Friday's paper.
As that paper was going to print on Friday, Hawk Air once again had been pressed into action by providing the same service for a group of Annunciation students, who like the ones from Roosevelt earlier in the week were in Terrace for an annual school camp out.
With the water still high and road access cut off, they too ended up flying the friendly skies of Hawk Air on Friday afternoon, returning home tired, but none the worse for wear for their own reunion with family and friends that evening.
A good bit of work by Hawk Air and one that the community will no doubt remember for a number of years.
No river wide enough to keep students from home
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, June 08, 2007
A group of students from Roosevelt Park Community School are back home safely after being caught by surprise on the east side of the flood that quickly closed off Highway 16 earlier this week.
Roosevelt principal Steve Riley said the pre-teens were on three-day Discovery camping trip on Lakelse outside of Terrace when the river broke over the highway Tuesday.
"It was incredibly difficult to get anyone to give you any information on what was happening with the roads -if they were going to flood, should you stay, should you go," said Riley.
The school group saw the high water levels in the Skeena as they drove to the campsite on Monday and as soon as they arrived, Riley and staff started trying to find out if it was okay to stay, "Before we unpacked, I called the RCMP and they hadn't heard anything. Then I phoned the radio stations and the road report, and City of Terrace and nothing," he said.
They made more inquiries Tuesday morning and were told there was no problem. So, the kids kept canoeing and enjoying their trip and two hours later, they got word there was water on the road.
They quickly cleared the camp and raced their gear into the cars.
"We crashed the camp but we missed it by a half an hour," said Riley.
Turned back from the highway, the kids were anything but depressed about being stuck at the camp.
"The kids were absolutely thrilled, when they found out we couldn't get back to Rupert. They all cheered. It wasn't like they were upset," said Riley.
On Wednesday, school staff managed to arrange a flight on Hawkair from Terrace to Prince Rupert.
The kids broke camp for the second time, with teachers leaving their vehicles behind to head home by air.
Parent Laurie Nyce said the school kept in touch with all the parents throughout the three days, and for her son Jared, the situation wasn't so much an emergency as it was an exciting experience.
"It's been something different for the kids, some of them have never been away from home before," said Nyce. "Jared has had quite the adventure."
Riley confirmed about half the students got their first plane ride on this trip.
"You know, normally things are a bit tense on the airplane when you take off, but when we took off they all cheered," he said.
Still, when the big yellow bus pulled into downtown Wednesday afternoon, there were a lot of hugs and kisses from anxious parents happy to have their kids home.
While it wasn't quite the camp they planned, Riley said he was proud of the students - they worked together well in teams and showed how they could handle themselves in changing situations.
"It was a good experience for them," he said.
The students and teachers weren't the only ones caught off guard by the flood. From the time the decision was made to close the road, it took about three hours for the message to spread and a number of people who were racing to get through were turned back as RCMP cleared the 140 kilometres stretch of all remaining traffic.
Earlier this week, Allan Chapman of the province's River Forecast Centre, described the Skeena as a "flashy river" that can rise quite quickly and without warning.
A number of people from Terrace are reportedly staying in Prince Rupert either in hotels, with friends or on fishing vessels until they can make arrangements to get home.
As that paper was going to print on Friday, Hawk Air once again had been pressed into action by providing the same service for a group of Annunciation students, who like the ones from Roosevelt earlier in the week were in Terrace for an annual school camp out.
With the water still high and road access cut off, they too ended up flying the friendly skies of Hawk Air on Friday afternoon, returning home tired, but none the worse for wear for their own reunion with family and friends that evening.
A good bit of work by Hawk Air and one that the community will no doubt remember for a number of years.
No river wide enough to keep students from home
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, June 08, 2007
A group of students from Roosevelt Park Community School are back home safely after being caught by surprise on the east side of the flood that quickly closed off Highway 16 earlier this week.
Roosevelt principal Steve Riley said the pre-teens were on three-day Discovery camping trip on Lakelse outside of Terrace when the river broke over the highway Tuesday.
"It was incredibly difficult to get anyone to give you any information on what was happening with the roads -if they were going to flood, should you stay, should you go," said Riley.
The school group saw the high water levels in the Skeena as they drove to the campsite on Monday and as soon as they arrived, Riley and staff started trying to find out if it was okay to stay, "Before we unpacked, I called the RCMP and they hadn't heard anything. Then I phoned the radio stations and the road report, and City of Terrace and nothing," he said.
They made more inquiries Tuesday morning and were told there was no problem. So, the kids kept canoeing and enjoying their trip and two hours later, they got word there was water on the road.
They quickly cleared the camp and raced their gear into the cars.
"We crashed the camp but we missed it by a half an hour," said Riley.
Turned back from the highway, the kids were anything but depressed about being stuck at the camp.
"The kids were absolutely thrilled, when they found out we couldn't get back to Rupert. They all cheered. It wasn't like they were upset," said Riley.
On Wednesday, school staff managed to arrange a flight on Hawkair from Terrace to Prince Rupert.
The kids broke camp for the second time, with teachers leaving their vehicles behind to head home by air.
Parent Laurie Nyce said the school kept in touch with all the parents throughout the three days, and for her son Jared, the situation wasn't so much an emergency as it was an exciting experience.
"It's been something different for the kids, some of them have never been away from home before," said Nyce. "Jared has had quite the adventure."
Riley confirmed about half the students got their first plane ride on this trip.
"You know, normally things are a bit tense on the airplane when you take off, but when we took off they all cheered," he said.
Still, when the big yellow bus pulled into downtown Wednesday afternoon, there were a lot of hugs and kisses from anxious parents happy to have their kids home.
While it wasn't quite the camp they planned, Riley said he was proud of the students - they worked together well in teams and showed how they could handle themselves in changing situations.
"It was a good experience for them," he said.
The students and teachers weren't the only ones caught off guard by the flood. From the time the decision was made to close the road, it took about three hours for the message to spread and a number of people who were racing to get through were turned back as RCMP cleared the 140 kilometres stretch of all remaining traffic.
Earlier this week, Allan Chapman of the province's River Forecast Centre, described the Skeena as a "flashy river" that can rise quite quickly and without warning.
A number of people from Terrace are reportedly staying in Prince Rupert either in hotels, with friends or on fishing vessels until they can make arrangements to get home.
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