Share to ClassroomOfficials Find Canada's Lost Floating Island
Officials in Canada say they have found a floating island that disappeared a few weeks after people first saw it. The small island is covered with trees. Boaters filmed it on Williston Reservoir, the biggest freshwater lake in British Columbia, and the video spread fast online. A satellite photo taken on 21 July showed that the island was real. By 5 August it had gone, and many people wondered if it had sunk. BC Hydro, the power company that looks after the lake, now says the island floated about 30 kilometres to the shore.
Bob Gammer of BC Hydro first thought the video was fake, because computers can now create very real pictures. The island covers about one hectare, or 9,800 square metres. BC Hydro believes old wood collected near the shore for many years. Plants and trees grew on the wood, and this summer it all broke away.
The lake is very full after heavy snow and rain, so the company opened the gates of a large dam in June and July. BC Hydro is watching the lake in case the island moves again. Gammer told people to stay off the island, because it is not solid and could break apart.
