The flood situation in B.C. remains a “dynamic and evolving situation,” Emergency Engagement Minister Kelly Greene said Monday afternoon (Dec. 15) at a news briefing.
Greene said 100 properties remain under evacuation order and 1,200 remain under evacuation alert.
She said several rainfall warnings have been issued for the Lower Mainland, with increased flood and landslide risk in the North Shore area in particular.
Greene said there have also been reports of a landslide on Highway 20 (the Chilcotin Highway).
“The ground is saturated in many areas; the rivers are full. Additional rainfall is going to increase the potential for more flooding and landslides,” she said.
“Folks should avoid river banks and waterways. The water is very high and the banks may not be stable.”
Green said more than 30,000 sandbags were deployed across the province over the weekend.
Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said there have been no reports of rising water on farms or calls to the emergency agri service line in the last 24 hours (as of 1 p.m. Monday).
She said a total of six poultry farms were impacted by the recent flooding, and the ministry is continuing to work with them, including for animal disposal.
Popham didn’t indicate how many animals were lost.
She said she has spoken with federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald.
“(He is) obviously very concerned about what’s happening … and I made sure that we asked for more support. (We) had a meeting of the minds and agreed that more needs to be done,” Popham said.
She said she agreed with Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens’ statements last week that the federal government needs to be at the table during discussions about future flood mitigation measures and how they will be funded.
Connie Chapman with the province’s water management branch said the weather event that was forecast overnight Sunday and into Monday has now passed, and the Nooksack River in Washington State is not expected to overtop its banks again.
But a flood warning remains for the Sumas and Chilliwack rivers and for the North Shore mountains.
“Vancouver Island and South Coast are also starting to see the system’s peak, and then we’ll start to see these water levels decrease,” Chapman said.
Janelle Staite with the Ministry of Transportation said crews are on site at about six locations along Highway 3 between Hope and Manning Park.
“Five sites in particular have very large cross-cuts across the major highway, so we’re actually having to dig out a culvert that’s failed and do some replacement work … We’re still completing our overall assessment in terms of a timeline, but expect in the next day or so to have a sense of when we expect to have the highway reopened,” Staite said.
Highways 1 and 99 are now fully reopened, she said.
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