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Had it not been for the lake below, it’s possible no one would have noticed when part of a mountain slope above B.C.’s Elliot Creek broke off in late November, sending more than six million cubic metres of rock and earth into a freefall.
But the water pooling beneath the slope — remnants of a retreating glacier northeast of the head of Bute Inlet — gave it away. The impact of the massive landslide sent a wave 100 metres high down the length of the creek, carrying off everything in its wake and carving deep tracks into the valley below.
As Rochelle Baker reports, the Bute Inlet slide is evidence of not only the impact natural disasters can have on local fishery and wildlife, but scientists say it offers a grave warning about the havoc climate change can wreak on coastal communities and the ecosystems around them.
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