BRITISH COLUMBIA – BC’s civic workers are on the front line of flood watch and preparation. The next few days and weeks are critical as plans kick into overdrive. Now is your chance to sign on as an “embedded reporter” on the front line with civic workers in your community on flood patrol, building up dykes, sandbagging, staffing 24 hour emergency flood lines, preparing evacuation plans, cooperating with neighbouring municipalities for staff redeployment, monitoring flood gages and building emergency lines of communication.
Locations of interest include communities from Smithers to Delta to the Fraser Valley, where the dykes span 300 km from Delta/Surrey to Agassiz.
Choose a municipality and/or region that your audience is interested in, and we will help you arrange some time (from minutes to hours to a day) on the front line, at the dykes, in control rooms, public works yards, etc. watching, learning and reporting what is being done to protect and prepare residents in the case of a flood.
- What: Invitation to become an “embedded reporter” for an hour or a day….Join front line civic workers in flood preparation & flood watch.Television crews welcome.
- Where: All municipalities where residents may be affected by a flood.
- When: To be arranged individually. One news outlet at a time.
- How? Contact CUPE, the union that represents BC’s 25,000 municipal workers and we will work to ensure you receive the appropriate clearances and partnering up with front line workers for meaningful news reporting.
To make arrangements to become an embedded reporter with your civic workers involved in flood watch and preparation, please contact Diane Kalen, CUPE Communications at dkalen@cupe.ca or (778)229-0258.