Crews with the City of Vancouver have lined a 200-metre stretch of Locarno Beach with tens of thousands of sandbags to prevent low-lying homes from being flooded by record high king tides beginning this week.
Vancouverites can expect king tides to arrive as early as next week, according to the city. Also known as perigean spring tides, king tides happen twice yearly when the sun and the moon’s gravitational forces combine. The tides are typically more extreme in the winter, according to the province.
High tides in Vancouver are typically between 3.4 and 4.3 metres, but king tides reach up to 5 metres. The federal government’s seven-day tide forecast predicts tides will reach 4.6 metres by Sunday.
Both the city and the province warn that king tides give citizens a peek at what ocean levels could look like in the future due to climate change. Both governments are working on plans to deal with flooding and erosion in the future. In the city, that could mean higher sidewalks in areas like Locarno.
Agencies/Canadajournal
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