Expert Hydrologist: Alberta's Flood Forecasting Tools "From The Stone Age"
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Kevin Shook, a research scientist with the University of Saskatchewan, suggested the country’s infrastructure is also problematic.
“The investment in infrastructure in Canada is woefully lacking — not simply meteorological stations or hydro-meteorological stations, but all of the infrastructure supporting this kind of effort,” he said. “The number of people we have in Canada doing the river forecasting is absolutely minute.”
Shook, who worked as a river forecaster for Alberta Environment from 1997 to 2007, said he has since visited regional forecast centres in Portland, Ore. and Sacramento, Calif.
“I felt like the poor hillbilly cousin. It was like going from the Stone Age to Star Wars,” he said, adding Alberta’s system is actually one of the better ones compared to some of the other provinces. In Colorado, Rasmussen said they were able to handle the flood well, but they still weren’t able to keep up with the amount of rain.
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http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Scientist+says+Alberta+flood+forecasting+tools+from+stone/9505812/story.html