As British Columbia storms subside, a massive cleanup looms

Successive storms that brutalized southern British Columbia with flooding and landslides caused by record amounts of rain were declared Thursday, but now cleanup and costly rebuilding are yet to come, says the Minister of Public Safety.

The work will include repairing vital transportation routes crippled by floods and landslides, restoring agricultural operations flooded by high tide and driving thousands of evacuated people back to their homes and communities, said Mike Farnworth.

“We are now at the other end of this series of intense storms and the latest events, thankfully, were not as severe as predicted,” he said. “The worst weather seems to be behind us. The process of recovery and reconstruction is already underway, and although it will take time, I am sure we will get there.”

The government has yet to provide an estimate of the cost of the damage caused by weeks of rain that flooded the province in a series of “atmospheric rivers”, apart from saying that it will be enormously expensive.

Environment Canada lifted weather alerts for British Columbia on Thursday as storm conditions eased, flooding began to recede and some transportation corridors reopened.

In November, record rains were recorded in places like Abbotsford, breaking previous monthly records by about 99 millimeters.

Farnworth said more than 14,800 people have been evacuated since the first storm struck in mid-November, including the entire Merritt community in the interior of southern British Columbia.

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As of Thursday, 4,308 properties remained in evacuation order and 7,400 people were told to prepare to leave quickly, it said.

The River Forecast Center lifted all flood alerts on Vancouver Island and the central coast, where it said rivers peaked and are now receding.

But flood warnings remain in areas around the Coquihalla, Chilliwack, Tulameen, Similkameen, Coldwater and Lower Nicola rivers, tributaries of the Lower Fraser and Spius Creek, the forecast center said.

Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said a major traffic corridor along the Trans-Canada Highway from Vancouver to Hope was reopened after the areas between Abbotsford and Chilliwack and near Bridal Falls were prevented from experiencing flooding, largely due to the efforts of volunteers and members of the Canadian Forces.

But the Coquihalla Highway, a key route between the Lower Continent and the Interior, remains closed and the earliest it could open to commercial traffic is in late January after storms washed away five bridges and damaged up to 130 kilometers of highway, he said. .

Highway 3, which is currently the only access to the interior of British Columbia from the lower part of the continent, is open but slow, Fleming said, adding that the normal five-hour drive from Surrey to Keremeos takes 10 hours.

Much of the Fraser Canyon route along Highway 1 remains closed due to landslide and flood damage and Highway 8 between Spences Bridge and Merritt was severely damaged and remains closed indefinitely, he said.

Highway 99 from Pemberton to Lillooet remained closed Thursday due to another landslide, Fleming said.

It was the same route where four people died and one remains missing after the first storm on November 14.

“If your trip isn’t necessary, don’t go out yet,” Fleming said.

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said she has been visiting farms in the Fraser Valley where people are dealing with dead animals and drowned crops.

He said there are currently 819 farms under evacuation orders.

Popham said the death toll among the animals is “heartbreaking” and includes 628,000 chickens, 420 dairy cows, 12,000 pigs and 120 hives.

A blueberry farmer told him that his plants were under more than six feet of water, but that he would not know until spring if they survived the flood, he said.

“He’s feeling pretty hopeful because he said a lot of his plants are under water intermittently every winter, so he feels like they’re pretty strong,” Popham said. “So, we keep our fingers crossed.”

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said he hopes evacuation orders will be lifted in the Sumas Prairie area of ​​his community and his main concern is safe access for residents to their properties.

Emergency funds of $ 2,000 from the Red Cross and the government are helping families who were driven from their homes by the floods, he said.

“I know that’s just the tip of the iceberg for those farmers because a lot of them have hundreds of thousands of dollars (in damage), but it’s a start,” Braun said.

Farnworth said he hoped the worst had happened for the province.

“We have seen communities hit in a way that no one should be,” he said.

This Canadian Press report was first published on December 2, 2021.