Emergency awareness is a good thing. To be warned of an impending storm system that has the potential of mass damage to the area is valid.
That the storms did not meet expectations as advertised was disappointing to many as demonstrated by the number of people who flocked to the waterfront and the breakwater at Ogden Point to watch this spectacle.
I was astounded to see pictures in the newspaper of a crowded walkway on the breakwater of, essentially, adrenalin junkies wanting the ultimate experience. Gigantic waves could have swamped them all. To be disappointed at this outcome baffles me, as does putting oneself in harm’s way. Why wasn’t the Ogden Point breakwater closed to pedestrians as was Beacon Hill Park during that storm?
Like moths to a flame, they were drawn to danger. It reminds me of that tsunami in Indonesia years ago in which large numbers of people were drawn to the beach out of curiosity when the waters receded suddenly, only to be swept out to sea in the tsunami.
How do you protect the masses when they do not heed the warnings?
E.C. Jewsbury
Saanich
