Highway 1 is still closed from Whatcom Road to No. 3 Road Saturday morning (Dec. 13) and there is currently “no way through no way through Abbotsford to Chilliwack or eastern parts of the province,” according to the City of Abbotsford.
Although water has receded overnight near the Whatcom Road exits, there is “still a significant amount of water on the highway, said Abbotsford Police media relations officer Sgt. Paul Walker.
Police ask that drivers respect the barriers in place, indicating that a road is closed. As last night, two vehicles drove around “road closure points and essentially sank their vehicles into the water, requiring them to be rescued,” Walker said.
The City of Abbotsford added that, “Drivers are asked not to attempt to bypass flooded areas using side roads. Those are also flooded and you will get stuck trying to back out.”
Google Maps is also incorrectly showing some roads as open, such as South Parallel Road, which remains closed. Walker added that when any of the streets reopen, it will be posted on the Abbotsford Police social media accounts.
As Highway 1 was closed yesterday, many drivers sought an alternate route on Highway 7 through Mission and Aggasiz. Posts on social media described bumper-to-bumper traffic, with travel time from Chilliwack to Abbotsford Airport exceeding 5 hours.
Sgt. Paul Walker of the Abbotsford Police Department explained that drivers are being forced to rely on Highway 7 right now, leading to an abnormal buildup of traffic.
He said that while the water alongside Highway 1 is receding, it will still take a little while for crews to reopen the highway.
To accommodate the increased traffic volume, the Ministry of Transportation and Transit said it is adjusting signal timing and increasing timing at Highway 7 intersections. “Increased traffic control will be stationed at key locations to support improved efficiency through the network where there is capacity,” said the ministry.
In an update from the City of Abbotsford, Saturday morning, it said, “As of this morning, the floodwaters in Abbotsford continued to gradually recede with some areas seeing significant improvement. There is still overflow water coming across the border from the Nooksack River, but the amount of water is slowly decreasing.”
With another atmospheric river expected to hit the area on Sunday, the City of Chilliwack issued a statement Saturday (Dec. 13) that it will be monitoring river levels throughout the weekend and will be in communication with the “the City of Abbotsford and the Fraser Valley Regional District about conditions that may impact Chilliwack.”
For updates on Chilliwack visit, chilliwack.com/floodwatch and Abbotsford visit, abbotsford.ca/alerts/flood-update-community.
Traffic updates will be posted on drivebc.ca.
-With files from Brandon Tucker
About the Author: Anna Burns
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