Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
“Watering is an ongoing activity,” said Chris Reid, executive gardener with Community Garden Builders. “Some gardeners post signs that say ‘please water me’ to invite neighbours to help.” With much of B.C. in the grip of drought, Metro Vancouver reservoirs, which supply the region’s tap water, were at their lowest level for September in a decade. Rain at the end of the month and into October has since increased levels to about the same as 2021.
British Columbia's public safety minister was in Abbotsford Thursday nearly a year after the area was hit by catastrophic flooding. Mike Farnworth said progress has been made rebuilding critical infrastructure on the Sumas Prairie and in parts of the Fraser Valley following last year's atmospheric river. Farnworth said permanent repairs to the Sumas River dike are expected to be completed by the end of the month.
Farmer Richard Bosma points to an armpit-level felt pen mark on the wall of his milking barn to show how high the water rose during the catastrophic flooding on his Fraser Valley dairy farm almost a year ago. "So there were about 54 inches of water here at its peak," he said. In another barn, Bosma introduces assembled media and politicians to Miracle, a black-and-white, hay-munching calf that earned its name by arriving in the world immediately after its mother was rescued from the rising water.
A new Senate report is calling on the federal government to work with the provincial and local governments in B.C. to create a better, more comprehensive flood relief plan to protect the Fraser Valley from disastrous flooding in the future. The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry released its findings on Thursday after hearing from nearly two dozen witnesses about the disastrous effects of flooding last November and the support the province offered in the aftermath.
Jackie Kloosterboer has worked with people caught in emergencies for more than two decades, and time and again she's seen how simple planning could have helped them through the catastrophe. Kloosterboer, who is the City of Vancouver's emergency planner, spent her summer working out of Chilliwack with her staff to help people who were forced to flee due to wildfires. A few months later, she was working out of Abbotsford to help those affected by flooding.
The extreme climate impacts experienced in B.C. in 2021 are ushering in new mainstream vocabulary as more and more people grapple with the enormity of the consequences taking place. Heat domes. Atmospheric rivers. Ecosystem resilience. Watershed security. Climate anxiety. All recent additions to our everyday lexicon. Climate change has swiftly become the climate crisis, as the catastrophic flooding and landslides in recent weeks have shown, preceded by the record heat waves, drought and fires of the summer.
Hundreds more flood evacuees are being allowed to return home to the Sumas Prairie area of Abbotsford, B.C., as the city continues cleaning up from last month's catastrophic flooding. Mayor Henry Braun announced Wednesday that rapid damage assessments have been completed for houses, barns and garages in the southern Sumas Prairie, allowing officials to lift an evacuation order for 400 properties.
As evacuation orders remain for hundreds of properties in southwest B.C., following catastrophic flooding that swept away houses and caused a municipality's wastewater system to fail — forcing its 7,000 residents to flee — experts say it's more important than ever to make homes flood resilient. This means exploring ways to mitigate property damage and better protect flood-vulnerable spaces in homes.
Officials in Abbotsford, B.C., are urging residents who were told to evacuate Sumas Prairie earlier Tuesday to leave immediately saying worsening conditions pose "a significant risk to life." At a news conference Tuesday night, city officials said a pump station is in imminent danger of failing. The Barrowtown Pump Station is the only thing keeping excess water flow from the Fraser River from entering the flooded area.
