Courtenay residents are no strangers to flooding, and with much of the city’s downtown core being near or within the Courtenay River’s floodplain, that comes as no surprise.
The stacked rock in this photo is a form of erosion control called “hard armouring,” which uses physical structures to protect coastlines from erosion. Photo by Madeline Dunnett/The Discourse
The flooding and erosion issues faced by the city today are a result of development, industry and an attempt to control the river, in combination with weather events that become more extreme as the climate changes. Prior to the arrival of settlers and colonization, the Courtenay River had options to meander into its many tributaries and its floodplains as water levels changed through the seasons, but it has since been choked by various man-made industrial walls or structures.
Silvester said the most intact riparian vegetation that resembles what would have been historically present along the Courtenay River can be seen downstream of where the Tsolum and Puntledge Rivers Merge, west of the Old Island Hwy and Headquarters Road . Much of this area has been converted for agriculture, but there are commercial and residential areas along the Ryan Road corridor.
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