Floodwaters surround an intersection of road and train tracks in Abbotsford, B.C., on Friday.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
After days of heavy flooding, drier conditions allowed the City of Abbotsford to reopen a major highway and lift evacuation alerts for more than 1,000 properties over the weekend, even as warnings were issued ahead of another round of rain.
Flood waters in Abbotsford were receding gradually Sunday, with some areas seeing notable improvements, according to an update from the city. Water from the Nooksack River, which topped its banks just south of the U.S. border on Thursday, continues to flow north but at a decreasing rate.
However, a second stormy weather system is expected to bring significant rainfall through the region on Sunday and Monday and has potential to exacerbate flooding issues in already hard-hit areas.
On Sunday, the B.C. River Forecast Centre issued a flood warning for the Chilliwack River and its tributaries and maintained a warning for the Sumas River. High stream flow advisories were either issued or maintained for large swaths of the province, from the north to south coast.
As of Sunday evening, about 90 properties in B.C. were under evacuation order and 1,260 under evacuation alert, according to government officials. As well, 56 farms were under evacuation order and 13 under evacuation alert, with those numbers expected to rise in coming days. An alert means people should be prepared to leave on short notice.
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B.C. Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene urged people in affected areas to prepare grab-and-go bags, have an emergency plan and avoid unnecessary travel.
“We aren’t through this yet, and it’s important to be prepared,” she said.
An atmospheric river brought heavy rainfall to the region beginning last Tuesday, with some areas receiving 145 millimetres of rain by Thursday. The City of Abbotsford declared a local state of emergency on Wednesday and the Ministry of Transportation closed every major highway connecting the Lower Mainland to the Interior that night, citing falling rock and debris, and avalanche hazards.
Over the weekend, the City of Abbotsford lifted evacuation alerts for 1,069 properties in Sumas Prairie West and Sumas Prairie East. As well, 248 properties were downgraded from evacuation orders to alerts. Evacuation orders remained in place for 77 properties in the city and evacuation alerts for 408.
Highway 1, the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway in B.C., reopened in both directions Sunday. Highway 3 remained closed from Hope to Manning Park because 21 sites are seriously damaged by landslide, culvert blowouts and road washouts. There’s no estimated reopening time.
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City staff and members of Canada Task Force 1 conducted rapid damage assessments on homes in flooded areas to determine whether each structure was safe to re-enter. Placards were left advising property owners of the assessment results.
On Sunday, Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens said in a video update that the work is continuing.
“Today we are breathing a little easier and I am grateful that we are starting to see some of our residents return home.”
Both the current and former mayors of Abbotsford have expressed frustration with Ottawa for inaction on funding the necessary infrastructure to prevent such floods following the catastrophic flooding of 2021, which led to insured losses of more than $675-million.
Asked about this on Sunday, Ms. Greene, the emergency preparedness minister, said it’s important for the federal government to recognize the economic and agricultural importance of the Sumas region, one of the most intensively farmed areas of Canada.
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The minister noted that, after 2021, the federal government pledged to support Abbotsford, Merritt and Princeton with rebuilding through the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.
“Subsequent to that, their applications for DMAF were declined, and that program was then retired,” Ms. Greene said. “So there really isn’t a funding stream available. It’s incredibly difficult to have of this kind of situation where the federal government really needs to step up, and then being really absent from that conversation.”
Shawn Mullaly, an Abbotsford resident who lives west of the Sumas Prairie flats, described the area on Sunday as “almost postapocalyptic.”
“It’s usually very busy in our area here, with highway traffic, people getting off at the Whatcom Road exit to go to McDonald’s and Tim Hortons, and to gas up,” he said after surveying the neighbourhood. “But it’s dead quiet. When it gets closed like that, it’s like everything stops, and it’s just really bizarre. My biggest observation, I think, is just how eerily quiet it gets.”
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Photographs that he has taken over the past several days show the rise and fall of flood waters. In the parking lot of Castle Fun Park, an all-season theme park that has closed three times since 1990 due to flooding, an SUV is shown on Thursday night submerged in water up to its windows. By Sunday, the vehicle rested on the edge of a large pool of water, its tires sitting in a few inches of muddy runoff.
Mr. Mullaly, who helped fill sandbags and assisted at a flooded farm during the 2021 flood, said authorities appeared much more prepared this time.
“Kudos to the local police and the traffic control, because that was one thing we noticed right away, that they got right in there and moved people out,” he said. “In 2021 a lot of people got stranded, and this time it was cleared out.”
Tanmay Rane, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said another atmospheric river is expected to bring 40 to 60 mm of rain to the Lower Mainland by Monday, and 80 mm at higher elevations.
Connie Chapman with the River Forecast Centre said while current models show that this event is expected to affect different areas of the Lower Mainland, weather systems can change direction at the last minute.