It’s been four years since powerful floods wiped out huge areas of land in the Fraser Valley. And despite how much time has passed, the City of Abbotsford says it is just inching closer to full recovery.
The floods happened when the Nooksack River overflowed in November 2021 and breached a dike, submerging the community in water.
The city says, over the past year, crews have completed the Cole Road Dike, stabilized the Sumas River bank, and made permanent repairs to the North Parallel Road Dike.
“We’ve also completed the final landslide repairs at the remaining sites across the community, including Old Yale Road (Majuba Hill), Auguston Sewer Access Road, Ivy Court, Cariboo Court and Latimer Road, with the last remaining site at Ash Street expected to be completed by the end of this month. In addition, the City has completed sediment and debris removal in several waterways, helping to restore flow capacity during the rainy season,” said a city statement.
Upgrades are still underway at the Barrowtown Pump Station, and Phase 1 of a new floodwall is finished.
“This new floodwall will reduce the risk of Barrowtown Pump Station not operating during a major Nooksack overflow event. Planning has also begun for the pump refurbishment and mechanical and electrical upgrades, which we expect will be completed by the end of 2027. The backup power generator is now installed and that project is fully complete, which will ensure the pumps stay operational during a power outage,” it adds.
The city says the work has taken so long due to several factors, like environmental permitting, multi-agency construction timeframes, a lengthy approval process to get projects greenlit and the cost of everything.
The repairs are too little, too late for one farmer, who asked not to be identified publicly, but used to live in Sumas Prairie.
During the floods, the farmer says he and his wife lost everything, except for one chicken. And after being left disappointed and traumatized by what happened, they moved to higher ground in Alberta.
“That was about a $2 million day for me, including the loss of property value. A little bit of assistance would have been nice,” said the farmer.
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He tells 1130 NewsRadio they weren’t given any financial assistance, and that made their decision to leave easier.
“It was basically like somebody was wearing steel-toed boots and gave me a big kick right where it would hurt the most. The lack of financial assistance, which also falls on the insurance companies as well, which they fought me tooth-and-nail.”
Ironically, he says, since the floods, the city has hired his company to install flood-watch cameras in Abbotsford.
He says the work that’s being done today may not be enough to protect those who’ve stayed behind.
“The repairs they were doing to the dikes were makeshift band-aids. You’ve got to build something with a solid base, not just put more stuff on top.”
Sudeshna Nambiar, executive director of the BC Blueberry Council, says many farmers at the time were provided provincial assistance but she knows of some who are still struggling today.
Nambiar says the land has not recovered.
“For blueberries, we need acidic soil. However, if the pH level of the soil is not within a certain range, they cannot plant. If they plant, and the soil is not acidic enough, then their plant may die,” she said.
Nambiar is calling for more provincial action on flood prevention.
“In any kind of disaster recovery, we cannot have one solution for everybody. Disasters don’t happen all the time. It happens only sometimes, and we should be proactively and deliberately prepared in advance.”
At the time, 2,100 acres of blueberry crops and 82 acres of raspberry crops were lost in the floods. Meanwhile, 420 acres of field crops that hadn’t been harvested were lost.
Cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, carrots, and leek farms had also been “significantly impacted.”
Roughly 1.4 million birds were impacted on chicken farms, and hundreds of thousands had died.
—With files from David Nadalini