After spending about $700 to purchase new clothes for her family during November's floods, Abbotsford, B.C., dairy farmer Jimi Meier decided to help others similarly affected. "I just started thinking, that's just one family. There's so many more that are going to be affected. How can I help, being in a better situation?" said the Sumas Prairie resident. As the devastating flood waters rose and then receded, Meier's husband and sons stayed on the farm to care for the animals while she sought safety. While their home was not flooded, they had no access to running water.
'No easy solutions' to cross-border flooding that has devastated both B.C. and Washington State
On a cool, damp evening, at a recent community meeting at a high school gym in northwest Washington, area residents voiced anger over inaction they believed had led to disastrous flooding. And they wanted to know from public officials what was going to be done to make sure it didn’t happen again. Residents pointed to the last major flood in 1990, which, like this one, had also driven devastating flood waters from the Nooksack River across the border to Abbotsford.