A photo and a video have been published since the beginning of August, with the caption: “There is a new floating island on Williston Lake,” the largest reservoir in British Columbia, Canada.
This is what the Canadian media outlet CBC News stated, wishing to alert BC Hydro (British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority), which operates the dam on the lake.
A few days later, the famous wooded island, covering an area roughly the size of a football field, had disappeared.
Even though some internet users explained its origin and an AI creation, satellite images showed otherwise—that this small island was indeed present on July 21. It was no longer on August 5.
Who is behind this appearance?
In an interview with Newsweek, BC Hydro spokesperson Bob Gammer said that “this is something we had never heard of before.”
Confirming the island’s disappearance, “this does not necessarily mean that it sank to the bottom of the reservoir. It may have moved back into a more sheltered area along the shore.”
How then can this appearance be explained? It concerns Williston Reservoir, the seventh largest in the world, which reached its full capacity for the first time in more than ten years, following significant winter snowfall.
Thus, the platform may have detached. According to officials, the island likely formed over the years from the decomposition of driftwood on the shore, creating a platform sturdy enough for vegetation to take root.
