Several communities along Highway 1 in the Fraser Canyon say road closures due to atmospheric rivers in November and now high avalanche risk after snowstorms have left them cut off from the rest of the province.
“Living in the canyon, we’ve always dealt with bad winters where the road is periodically closed, but this year has been really bad,” Terrie Davidson, manager of Boothroyd’s Indian band, told Global News.
North of communities like Boothroyd and Boston Bar, avalanche risk has stalled work on a temporary bridge at Jackass Mountain.
Several avalanches to the south have also left communities caught in the middle.
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“No one cares about us,” Davidson said. “That’s how we feel right now.”
It has been five days since Highway 1 in the canyon was reopened for a short time so residents could get out of town and get supplies.
However, some residents did not find out in time and some thought it was too dangerous.
“They gave us a time in the middle of the night to get down and it’s too unsafe to ride in the dark in an avalanche area,” Shirley Neilson, owner of Canyon RV Park, told Global News.
Another big concern is the lack of medical help in the communities.
An air ambulance is the only option at this time if someone needs medical help.
“If I have a heart attack up here, I’m dead,” Neilson said. “There is no one up here who can help us.”
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Another problem is dwindling food supplies, with empty grocery store shelves.
“People share what they have, so you really feel like you’re on a stranded island somewhere,” Neilson added.
The BC government is providing support to communities by rail and air to bring in food and medicine, but residents say a more proactive approach is needed.
“Who thought we would have isolated communities like we have had in these six months? But I can tell you that we will be embarrassed if we don’t plan for it,” Jackie Tegart, the BC Liberal MLA for Fraser-Nicola, told Global News.
According to DriveBC, Highway 1 remains closed in both directions between Ainslie Road North and Kanaka Station Road for 10 miles (Jackass Mountain Summit).
It currently has an estimated opening time for mid-January, but the next update will be on January 21.
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Reference-globalnews.ca