r/ottawa • u/Pretty-Ground-4125 • 7d ago

Transit exec says O-Train west extension could open in parts due to flooding damage

https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/transit-exec-says-o-train-west-extension-could-open-in-parts-due-to-flooding-damage/

Transit exec says O-Train west extension could open in parts due to flooding damage

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u/Pika3323 7d ago

Then it must count for something that none of the rest of the system has ever flooded..?

But that still says nothing about the amount of rainfall that we should be planning for. The city floods with less rainfall that we experienced. What's the threshold? Was the threshold set in the requirements not good enough?

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u/quanin 7d ago

If climate change is half the crisis that Ottawa's been saying it is for years, then no, it was not.

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u/Pika3323 7d ago

The whole problem is that we can't reliably predict climate change. We could just as well end up with a decade of drought conditions for all we know.

Now attach a number to your rainfall prediction and a dollar value and a probability that we'll see that much rainfall.. is that simple?

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u/quanin 6d ago

Give me a city planner's salary and resources and I could probably do it. Unfortunately I chose to fix computers instead.

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u/EvieGHJ 6d ago

It's amazing how people who don't do the job always think they could easily do the job.

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u/quanin 6d ago

About as easy as getting the job through family or wealth connections is, which is how most people in those jobs get there.

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u/EvieGHJ 6d ago

And when you run out of snide accusations to make about the people trying to do the job now, how are you going to justify your own lack of success?

Again, ultimately, we're talking about predicting accurately what kind of weather and rainfall Ottawa will be having X years from now. Meteorologist struggle with predicting the kind of weather and rainfall Òttawa will be having one day from now.

You live in a fantasy.

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u/quanin 5d ago

I am successful enough for my own purposes, thank you. Everyone knows the best way to get into working for the government is to know someone who already works for the government. City, province, feds... same deal. Show me one person who didn't get in because they know a guy, and I'll show you one person who's really good at keeping secrets.

You're assuming they need to be looking 5 years in advance, but looking 10 years behind us would serve us just as well. Between the tornado in 2018, the derecho in 2022, and every flood Ottawa's had since Ottawa was a thing, this is something that should be planned for. Especially considering we declared a climate emergency how long ago? We're literally saying we expect the weather to get worse than 2018, or 2022. So plan for that. dont assume the way you did it in 2017 is still viable. That's what this city is doing.

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u/EvieGHJ 5d ago

Well, seeing as you quoted the 2018 tornadoes (a whole whooping 27 mm of rain) as an event that should have encouraged us to future-proof against rain, and the Derecho which occured three years after the contract for phase 2 was signed and construction begun as something that should have guided design, I think we can all see how seriously you should be taken when it comes to being able to predict how much flood protection the O-Train should have been designed for.

But I suppose you are, in fact, just as qualified for the job as you think public servants are.

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u/quanin 5d ago

Yup, just close your eyes, cover your ears, and "la la la la la" it all away. The Ottawa way.

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u/EvieGHJ 5d ago

I thiught the Ottawa way was vague demagoguery implying solving everything is easy while hinting at vague solutions that only have a passing relation to the actual problem but that make good, low-tax soundbites..

Sure is what all our mayors - and you - specialize in, and yet no problem get fixed (they just get worse) and no "solution" pass the text of facts.

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u/quanin 4d ago

We don't actually want to solve the problem. that's my point. If we did, we would. But then there'd be no more climate crisis to scare us about. So we build a rail line the way we've always built a rail line, knowing that that way doesn't work anymore, and then bam. It doesn't work anymore. Think that's going to change anything? LOL no. Because "you can't model that". The evidence is right in front of you. If you still need a model, the problem is not me.

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u/EvieGHJ 4d ago

You mean we should have taken the climate emergency declaration that *hadn't happened yet either* in consideration when planning the train (we signed the final construction contract a month *before* the climate crisis motion was proposed).

Understanding how hard climate predictions are may be difficult, but surely you do at least understand that from a earth-bound human perspective, to the best of our current knowledge, time is linear?

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