Are You Ready?

Recently Calian Ltd hosted several public engagement sessions and circulated a survey for feedback. The public engagement process has now ended and we would like to thank those who participated and took the time to share their input.

In the months ahead, we are continuing with the development of the Alberni Valley Evacuation Route Plan and we look forward to completing the next steps in our project. In January, a draft plan will be presented and staff, volunteers and stakeholders will engage in a tabletop exercise for training purposes. A final plan of the Alberni Valley Evacuation Route Plan will be presented to ACRD Board of Directors on March 9, 2022.

The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, the Hupacasath First Nation, the Tseshaht First Nation, and the City of Port Alberni received grant funding from the province to develop an Alberni Valley Evacuation Route Plan.

The Evacuation Route Plan will consider all hazards including tsunami, wildfire, flooding, dam breach, and chemical spill. The plan will identify major and alternative evacuation routes, including the capacity of these routes. The plan will consider assembly points, transportation methods for evacuees, resources required for an effective evacuation, vulnerable population considerations, choke points, and key locations.

Calian Ltd has been hired to develop the plan on behalf of the project partners. Calian is interviewing many community stakeholder groups to understand their specific evacuation requirements. Engagement sessions with the Tseshaht First Nation and the Hupacasath First Nation will also occur to understand their community evacuation needs.

Your participation is needed to help develop an effective Evacuation Route Plan!

Please take the Alberni Valley Evacuation Route Plan Survey. There are only 8 questions and the survey will take less than 5 minutes. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ACRDEvac

Additionally, three public engagement sessions are planned to gather feedback from residents. These sessions will are scheduled for:

- Tuesday, October 19, 1:00 - 3:00 pm at Beaver Creek Community Hall

- Tuesday, October 19, 5:30 - 7:30 pm at Echo Centre

- Thursday, October 21, 5:30 - 7:30 pm at Sproat Lake Community Hall

We encourage residents to attend to learn more and provide your feedback. Everyone Welcome! Public engagement sessions will follow Provincial Public Health Orders for COVID-19.

The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD), in partnership with the City of Port Alberni, have implemented a new emergency notification system called Voyent Alert!.

Voyent Alert! is a smartphone application which notifies subscribers about potential hazards & emergencies where they live. This is a project that will bring emergency notifications to the Bamfield Electoral Area & the Alberni Valley, including the City of Port Alberni and the Beaufort, Cherry Creek, Sproat Lake, and Beaver Creek Electoral Areas. The ACRD has also entered into Memorandum of Understandings with the Hupacasath First Nation, the Tseshaht First Nation, the Uchucklesaht Tribe Government, and the Huu-ay-aht First Nations to allow their residents to sign up and receive emergency notifications.

The ACRD & the City encourage all residents in the Alberni Valley and Bamfield to subscribe for free to Voyent Alert!. Once they have registered, residents will know immediately if a major emergency should hit their area. Registration is anonymous, and no information you submit is shared or used for marketing purposes.

Emergency notifications can be received by a phone call, text message, or email. The Voyent Alert system is tested on the first Wednesday of every month at 1pm (at the same time as the Tsunami Warning Siren in Port Alberni).

As of September 2021, over 2300 residents have registered to receive emergency notifications!

Register here:

https://www.acrd.bc.ca/voyentalert

If you need support registering, please call the ACRD office at (250) 720-2700 for assistance.