Chilliwack, Prince George, and other Fraser Valley communities are facing evacuation orders and alerts due to the fast-rising waters of the Fraser River, reports CBC News:
On Monday the City of Prince George declared a local state of emergency and issued an evacuation order to 18 homes. By Tuesday morning, the water was surrounding some at houses on Farrell Street and flowing quickly through Paddlewheel Park by the riverside.

The houses and trailers between the dike and river aren’t protected, and as of Tuesday morning water was lapping up around the edges of some and almost completely surrounding others.via Fraser River flooding threatens two B.C. communities — CBC News.
And unfortunately, with the flow of water slated to peak on Friday in Chilliwack and more rain in the long-term forecast, these communities may not see some relief from the river until after the end of next week.
The following post outlines some of the most effective ways to use social media to see what’s happening on the ground, share information with your community, and collaborate effectively in situations like these.
Find Out What’s Happening:
- Search Twitter for keywords that relate to the event. For instance you can search for “BC floods” or an area like Prince George.
- Find related hashtags on Twitter. Hashtags are used in Twitter to tie related conversations together. So for this sitation, the most common hashtag is #BCFlood.
- Search for photos and videos of the event using keywords. Good aggregators of this material include YouTube, Flickr, Twitpic, twipho, twicsy, Ustream and PicFog.
Share Information With Your Community:
- Use Facebook to set up or find a page. Existing pages can often be found through Twitter links or by searching Facebook. If a page doesn’t exist you can set one up here. When you set up a page be sure to include links to other social media support resources.
- Share your Facebook group with your Facebook friends or others via email so that people have a central place to share information.
- Use Google to plot hotspots.
- Upload photos you have that can be helpful to Flickr (recommended), Twitpic or Instagram. Use the hashtags you’ve found in Twitter to tag your photos.
- Upload videos you have that can be helpful to YouTube (recommended) or Vimeo. Use the hashtags you’ve found in Twitter to tag your videos.
- If the emergency is a news event then update the news item posted on Wikipedia with the latest resources.
Help & Act:
Put any requests for help into Ayoudo. Include the hashtags you’ve found in Twitter in the description. Set the price to ‘zero’. Share the help request with your friends, through Facebook and Twitter. For example, ask Ayoudo to help you:
- Clear out debris
- Borrow fans and dehumidifiers
- Clean your home
- Check for gas leaks
- Check and repair electrical damage
- Check for water line damage
- Repair your home
Search for people who need help by searching for the hashtag or location in Ayoudo.
Write a 2 paragraph description of the emergency detailing the affected places and list of resources available to those who want to help. Email this message to local bloggers, the local media, and Ayoudo at social@ayoudo.com
Want to assist others? Sign up to Ayoudo and offer to help to your community.
Go to this complete guide of How to Respond to a Crisis Using Social Media for more information.
Need help with something else after the floods?
Visit the Ayoudo web app and
Find out who needs help and help a neighbour.
If you need help figuring out how to use Ayoudo, please visit our FAQ Section.
