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the production of flood as natural catastrophe:
EXTREME EVENTS
AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF VULNERABILITY IN THE DRAINAGE BASIN OF THE ST. FRANCIS RIVER (QUEBEC), MID-NINETEENTH TO MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY
STÉPHANE CASTONGUAY
ABSTRACT
This essay analyzes how a popular adjustment to floods gave way to the gradual build-up of vulnerability among the riparian population of the St. Francis River, where flooding events have occurred repeatedly since the middle of the nineteenth century. The need to control the river flow required that the flooding events be framed as a natural catastrophe that threatened the well-being of the population. This was especially the case when a sense of urgency accompanied the flooding events of 1913 and those of 1942 and 1943, and when droughts concurrently incited the regulation of the river flow and of the production of energy for industrial purposes. In both episodes, droughts contributed to the construction of floods as a natural catastrophe because they disrupted economic activities by provoking power shortages.
The spring freshet is now on in earnest. The rain of Monday was the beginning. Since then the water has been steadily rising and yesterday afternoon passed the capacity of the river channel and overflowed the banks. Slowly—but surely—it continued its aggressions until before night. ... Those who have watched the progress of the spring floods for many years past predict a record breaker this year.
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| Sherbrooke Daily Record1 |
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| FLOODS ORDINARILY UNFOLD in a dramatic fashion. We think of them as events that break the normal pattern of a society, and the use of the term "natural catastrophe" to characterize these events conveys precisely a sense of abruptness. The fact that both journalistic accounts and later historical studies focus on single events doubtlessly contributes to that perception. But, as the Record's quote illustrates, floods are the norm under certain circumstances. Rather than appearing as historical events, they can be a recurring phenomenon and act as a structural element of the landscape.2 In some cases, local populations have grown used to floods and consider them inconsequential. To paraphrase Gilbert White's 1942 pioneering study of flooding in the United States, one might say that riverine inhabitants adjust to floods.3 If we are to consider natural catastrophes over the long term, we must then ask how they become portrayed as "catastrophic" events and how their normal and normative dimensions become obliterated. |
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