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Samantha Lock (now) Mark Oliver Sam Levin, Gloria Oladipo, Fran Lawther and Martin Belam (earlier)

Canada’s Trudeau deploys air force to help flooding effort– as it happened

This blog reporting on the ongoing flood emergency in British Columbia is closing down now. You can read our latest report here. Thank you for reading.

Evacuation train departs with 200 passengers for Vancouver

A late night evacuation train carrying about 200 people stranded for days by British Columbia’s mudslides and floods has left Hope for Vancouver, CBC news reports.

Jonathan Abecassis, a spokesperson for Canadian National, said the emergency evacuation train was expected to arrive in Vancouver at about 10:30pm PT Wednesday.

Most of the people on board the train had been in Hope, located about 150km east of Vancouver, since Sunday.

Abecassis says the evacuation train is the result of efforts between Emergency Management BC, Via Rail and CN.

British Columbia premier John Horgan has credited the climate crisis with increasingly the likelihood of intense storms such as the one that struck his province.

Horgan referenced an earlier comment from Environment Canada, the government body that described the floods as a “one in 100 year event”.

“While Environment Canada called this a 1-in-100 year event, we know the increased likelihood of intense storms is due to the climate crisis,” he said.

“We need to keep doing more to mitigate its impacts and build the cleaner future people and our planet need.

Canadian forces on the ground to assist with flood effort

Canadian Armed Forces members are on the ground in British Columbia to assist with the floods relief effort.

Additional members of the Royal Canadian Airforce are also reportedly en route from Edmonton, the force said.

“Canadian Armed Forces members are on the ground in British Columbia helping out and we are sending more members to assist the communities that are most impacted, and support repair and mitigation efforts,” Anita Anand, Canada’s Minister of National Defence, said.

“We will be there for British Columbians to keep them safe and to recover from this tragedy.”

The Royal Canadian Airforce said 408 tactical helicopter squadrons were on their way to “deploy reconnaissance and coordination elements” to BC.

Updated

Government of Canada to assist BC in flood response

The Government of Canada has approved a request for federal assistance from the province of British Columbia to help with their response to extreme flooding in the region.

Bill Blair, Canada’s minister of emergency preparedness, confirmed the news earlier on Wednesday.

“In response to extreme flooding across Southern BC, we have approved the deployment of Canadian Forces air support personnel to assist with evacuation efforts, support supply chain routes, and protect residents against floods and landslides,” Blair said in a statement.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is expected to provide both air assets and a land component to assist with the relief effort, according to a press release issued by Public Safety Canada.

Air support will assist evacuations, provide assistance to those who are vulnerable and stranded and also provide logistical support for provincial supply chains. The CAF will also assist with the protection of critical infrastructure, access roads, and properties.

An Immediate Response Unit reconnaissance team is expected to be deployed today.

Castle Fun Park’s mini golf attraction was pictured by CBC news photojournalist Ben Nelms as submerged in floodwaters in Abbotsford, BC, on Wednesday.

It’s just another one of the more dramatic pictures to emerge in the aftermath of torrential rains.

Flood warnings in the affected areas of Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon has been downgraded, according to the British Columbia River Forecast Centre.

The current Flood Watch warning for the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon, including tributaries near the district of Hope in BC, has been downgraded to a High Streamflow Advisory, the agency said in an update on Wednesday evening.

A High Streamflow Advisory indicates that river levels are rising or expected to rise rapidly, but that no major flooding is expected. Minor flooding in low-lying areas is possible.

British Columbia premier John Horgan has urged residents to refrain from hoarding during the crisis.

“Respect the fact you do not need 48 eggs,” Horgan said during a Wednesday press conference, adding “a dozen will do”.

“Remember that your neighbour in line behind you needs the same supplies you do.

“We’re confident we can restore our supply chains in a quick and orderly manner, and the state of emergency will now help us do that.”

The city of Chilliwack in Abbotsford has downgraded its evacuation order for Yarrow and Majuba Hill to an evacuation alert.

The city in a statement on Wednesday evening that the evacuation order was rescinded after the water in the Nooksack River dropped considerably, which will diminish flow into Abbotsford.

The Fraser River also continues to drop and officials estimate that by tomorrow they should be able to open the flood gates, which will further reduce water levels. The pumps are also working at Abbotsford’s Barrowtown pump station.

Officials believe that should the worst case situation occur and the pumps stop working, the water will rise very slowly, first in Abbotsford, giving Yarrow residents an opportunity to leave the area safely.

The current evacuation alert means that residents who return should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.

Updated

Aerial footage shows the extent of catastrophic floods in mountain areas of Canada’s British Columbia province.

The Fraser Valley, south-east of Vancouver, showed swaths of the land, including highways, underwater.

Watch the footage below.

Updated

Summary of what we know so far

  • The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are prepared to send 4,000 troops to hard-hit regions to help with evacuation efforts.
  • Princeton in BC issued an evacuation alert over lack of clean water and natural gas.
  • The small US city of Sumas in Washington, on the Canadian border, has been described as half flooded. Flooding there has hit an estimated three quarters of homes and there have been around about 500 rescues and evacuations reported. Sumas Mayor Kevin Christensen told The Seattle Times: “Half is on dry ground, half has water.”
  • British Columbia premier John Horgan declares ‘state of emergency,’ and says death tolls expected to rise in coming days. Travel restrictions are also set to be imposed with supply chains expected to be impacted by the downpour.
  • Horgan described the disaster as a once-in-500-year event.
  • BC agriculture minister aid “thousands of animals have perished” in the flooding so far.
  • Building trades union and road builders association are reportedly standing at the ready to rebuild.
  • People have been evacuating from the Sumas Prairie area near Abbotsford, 80 miles inland from Vancouver, in fear for their lives as the region has been inundated with the devastating flooding.
  • About 180 people were rescued Tuesday night during intense flooding in Abbotsford.
  • Criticism grows over the failure of the BC Government’s Alert Ready emergency system to send out evacuation updates about intense flooding and weather in the BC region.
  • Thousands of cattle feared stranded as farmers told to save themselves.
  • Fast-rising water levels from a Sumas River in Washington state overwhelmed rescuers in Abbotsford on Tuesday.
  • The Abbotsford mayor issued an evacuation warning with 1,100 homes evacuated so far.
  • Canada prime minister Justin Trudeau called the intense flooding in British Columbia a “terrifically bad situation”.
  • The weather phenomenon ha been linked to the global climate crisis.
  • Authorities have confirmed the death of a woman from a mudslide on Monday and anticipate the death toll to rise.

Updated

The Canadian Armed Forces are prepared to send 4,000 troops to help with evacuation efforts

Canada’s Minister of emergency preparedness, Bill Blair, said in a TV interview that the Canadian Armed Forces are prepared to mobilize as many as 4,000 members to help with evacuation and other efforts on the ground in BC.

The Canadian Armed Forces received a request for assistance last night, Blair said. “And I am advised that they are already moving assets forward into British Columbia to the affected areas”, Blair said. Initially, 300 personnel will be sent but they are prepared to move more. The BC government asked for heavy and medium air support in order to provide evacuation, critical medicine and food, he said.

Updated

Princeton in BC issued an evacuation alert over lack of clean water and natural gas. All those living in properties within the boundary of the town are being asked to prepare to evacuate. No hotel accommodations will be provided, but the town has asked residents to gather their belongings, put livestock in safe places and arrange places for them and their families to stay.

The town comprising 3,000 residents has been in a state of emergency for days with little to no access to heat or potable water as relentless rain caused extreme flooding, according to the CBC.

A gas line that supplies the natural gas needed to heat local homes broke on Monday and the water system stopped working on Tuesday.

Updated

New images show the damage the Malahat highway, which drivers compared to a river just two days ago, has endured. Only essential travel will be permitted on the highway until the repairs are done. To accommodate those who need alternate routes, the BC Ferry is offering a new route starting tomorrow to get around the Malahat highway.

City officials of Abbotsford are pleading with people kayaking or swimming in the flood waters to stay out of the polluted waters, according to CBC News. The officials say some kayakers have actually made it hard for rescuers who are trying to save stranded people and livestock.

They also warn that the water is extremely polluted and has likely swept up toxic chemicals as well as the decaying bodies of animals that succumbed to the flood.

“I think I saw a few cows that seemed to be floating yesterday from the helicopter ... I saw barns that looked half full of water. I can’t imagine there are any birds left alive,” Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun told CBC News. “For those reasons, we don’t want people in the water.”

Updated

BC flooding and rain leads to flooded farms and long lines for gas

As waters rose throughout the Canadian province, harrowing visuals and reports have surfaced of people desperately trying to vacate their neighborhoods and save their livestock.

Updated

In a video posted to Twitter by the Weather Channel in Canada, farmers in Abbotsford, BC can be seen rescuing their neighbors’ cattle from fields that have flooded due to the extreme weather conditions.

Updated

A Vancouver meteorologist says the warning signs of extreme flooding in BC were evident more than a week ago.

On 9 November the forecast showed that an atmospheric river that originated in the Hawaiian Islands and produces torrential rain was approaching. The phenomenon known as a “pineapple express” would work its way from British Columbia to California.

Then on 11 November, The Weather Channel’s computer model indicated that 200 millimeters of rain were headed for Fraser Valley in BC.

“It started just as an ordinary rainstorm, but by Sunday, [Nov. 14], things quickly escalated. Highway 1 became impassable. The flow forecast models by then indicated we could not escape a major flood event,” said Tyler Hamilton, the meteorolgist for The Weather Channel who initially noticed the potential for disaster.

Read more about the flooding and Hamilton’s observations in this article from The Weather Channel.

Updated

More images from photojournalists in Sumas, Washington.

Gary Aardema Jr of Sumas, Washington, surveys his flood-damaged home where he says he and his family narrowly escaped after floodwaters hit with no warning
Gary Aardema Jr of Sumas, Washington, surveys his flood-damaged home where he says he and his family narrowly escaped after floodwaters hit with no warning Photograph: Jason Redmond/Reuters
Derailed railroad cars sit near flood-damaged tracks at a BNSF rail yard in Sumas, Wash.
Derailed railroad cars sit near flood-damaged tracks at a BNSF rail yard in Sumas, Washington. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP
Flood waters surround a shipping business called “Ship Happens” after rainstorms that hit both British Columbia and Washington state caused flooding on both sides of the border
Flood waters surround a shipping business called “Ship Happens” after rainstorms that hit both British Columbia and Washington state caused flooding on both sides of the border. Photograph: Jason Redmond/Reuters

Updated

How poor forestry fuels floods and fires in western Canada

A devastating string of floods and landslides have shocked residents in British Columbia, a west Canadian province increasingly forced to grapple with the effects of the climate crisis. As images of the devastation circulate on social media, experts warn that management of the province’s forests will be critical to blunting the effects of future storms.

“It’s just this awful feeling of being right – and not wanting to be right. This is exactly what the best available science has predicted for years,” said Peter Wood, author of a recent report on the link between clearcut logging and community safety from the Sierra Club BC. “We know the outcome when you log steep slopes … You reach sort of a tipping point, where the forest is no longer able to provide that moderating service of controlling flow of water.”

US city of Sumas 'still half flooded' says mayor

In the small US city of Sumas in Washington, on the Canadian border, residents have been assessing the damage.

Flooding there has hit an estimated three quarters of homes and there have been around about 500 rescues and evacuations reported. “We’re looking at going door-to-door, as waters go down in different parts of town,” Sumas Mayor Kevin Christensen told The Seattle Times. “Half is on dry ground, half has water.”

The situation has reminded people of western Washington’s record, severe flooding in November 1990 when two people died and there were more than 2,000 evacuations.

On Facebook, the City of Sumas said Wednesday that water levels were continuing to drop and it looked like the community wouldn’t be affected by additional potential flooding in Abbotsford. It said crews were working hard to clear roads and return power to some parts of town.

“These families and businesses need our prayers and support as we start the process of cleanup and rebuilding over the next few days,” the city said in another Facebook post.

A woman cleans out her flood-damaged home Wednesday in Sumas, Wash.
A woman cleans out her flood-damaged home Wednesday in Sumas, Wash. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/AP

Updated

‘Once-in-500-years event’

At the news conference, BC Premier John Horgan described the calamity as a once-in-500-year event. Some of the towns impacted are in remote mountain areas with limited access and freezing temperatures.

“These are extraordinary events not measured before, not contemplated before,” Horgan said at the news conference.

From Reuters:

In Tulameen, a town to the northeast of Vancouver, up to 400 people are trapped, many without power, said Erick Thompson, a spokesman for the area’s emergency operations.

“(We) did a helicopter flight recently, dropped off food,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

In Hope, 100 miles (160 km) east of Vancouver, food was starting to run low. Pastor Jeff Kuhn said a quarter of the town’s 6,000 residents were seeking shelter.

About 100 volunteers at the Dukh Nivaran Sahib Gurdwara Sikh Temple in Surrey spent all night Tuesday preparing about 3,000 meals and then hired helicopters to deliver the food to Hope, said President Narinder Singh Walia.

Updated

BC premier John Horgan said the building trades union and road builders association were standing at the ready to rebuild:

We’re living through an extraordinary historic time with respect to the pandemic and now with respect to an inundation that is unprecedented in our history. We’re putting in place measures to ensure that we can accelerate contracts and tenders so that we can get the work done ... I’m very confident that the people who built British Columbia will be able to rebuild it as quickly as is safe to do so.”

Later in the briefing, he said, “I’m confident we can withstand this. Our economy is strong ... but it is early days.”

He also said that BC needed to start preparing for a future where events like this will be more frequent.

Officials at the BC press briefing are facing numerous questions about concerns with the BC government’s Alert Ready emergency system.

Officials have repeatedly responded that the disaster was “unprecedented”, and have also said that Alert Ready is used when local authorities request it.

BC deputy premier Mike Farnworth said the Alert Ready system is not a “silver bullet”, and in some areas, the system would not be useful and there were concerns about the alerts causing panic:

More:

Updated

More details on the “state of emergency” declaration from the BC premier:

John Horgan says the order will preserve access to services and supplies, establish travel restrictions, and ensure essential goods can be transported, CBC British Columbia reported.

Officials also expect to confirm more deaths due to flooding in the coming days.

The BC premier also urged the public not to hoard items and not to travel unless it’s essential.

BC agriculture minister: 'thousands of animals have perished'

Lana Popham, BC’s minister of agriculture, has just given an update about the crisis at farms, saying that “thousands of animals have perished”. More from her update:

  • “There will have to be euthanizations,” she said, adding that there were also animals who have survived and will need food in the next 24 hours.
  • Disaster relief funding will be made available for farmers.
  • The agricultural health lab in the Fraser Valley was flooded, compromising infrastructure that is used for disease testing for animals, and also for milk testing. Alberta and Saskatchewan are stepping up to provide testing.
  • “Farmers are desperately trying to find a safe, dry spot for their animals,” she said noting that many farmers who attempted rescues had to abandon their animals: “They are not in good shape by the time they get there ... The roads were disappearing beneath them. We’re developing routes so that veterinarians can access farms.”

Updated

BC premier declares 'state of emergency,' says death tolls expected to rise in coming days

Amid flooding in British Columbia, the British Columbia premier has declared a state of emergency and says death tolls are expected to rise in the coming days.

The premier has also said travel restrictions will be imposed and that officials are confident that supply chains impacted by the downpour and mudslides can be restored quickly.

More details coming shortly.

Updated

The Guardian’s Hannah Devlin explains more about what an atmospheric river is after British Columbia and parts of Washington state experience record rainfall and flooding.

Massive flooding across the region has caused mudslides, cut off several towns from key supplies such as food and fuel, and killed one person as several were reported missing.

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of water vapour in the atmosphere that extend from the tropics to higher latitudes, acting like a pipe in the sky. These columns of vapour, typically between 250 and 375 miles wide, move with the weather and can transport up to 15 times the volume of the Mississippi River.

When atmospheric rivers make landfall, they release moisture in the form of rain or snow – and this is often a crucial contribution to water supplies. Precipitation from atmospheric rivers is thought to contribute about 20% of the Earth’s total water flow. In some regions, particularly the east and west coast of North America, south-east Asia and New Zealand, this can be more than 50%.

Read the full report here.

Updated

Officials in British Columbia providence could declare a “state of emergency” due to flooding in the region that has cut off access to the country’s largest port and left thousands stranded, reports Reuters.

“What we’re seeing is a natural disaster,” said provincial Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth in a briefing late Tuesday. “A province-wide state of emergency is very much on the table.”

Several towns are currently cut off due to flooding and mudslides, with at least one town struggling with limited access to food. In Hope, a town of about 6,000 that is located around 100 miles east of Vancouver, many say that food supplies are limited as flooding has halted any attempts at restocking grocery stores.

“There is not much left in the grocery stores. They just can’t restock, there is no way to get through,” said Jeff Kuhn, a pastor in Hope, to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Kuhn said that while food is being airlifted in, only about a day’s worth of food remains.

'Terrifically bad situation': Trudeau comments on flooding in BC and deploys Canada's air force

Canada prime minister Justin Trudeau calls intense flooding in British Columbia a “terrifically bad situation” as Canada moves to deploy its air force to help with aid efforts, with more rain expected, reports Reuters.

Community members use a small boat to help in a cattle rescue operation after rainstorms caused flooding and landslides in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.
Community members use a small boat to help in a cattle rescue operation after rainstorms caused flooding and landslides in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. Photograph: Jesse Winter/Reuters

While on a trip to Washington, Trudeau said the Canadian government will help regions recover from the flooding, which has killed one person.

Bill Blair, Federal Emergency Preparedness minister, said today that air force personnel will be delivering food, fuel, feed and water to communities currently cut off and running low on supplies due to flooding, telling the Canadian Broadcasting Corp that hundreds of soldiers will be deployed.

Additionally, those deployed will be helping with sandbagging to mitigate flooding.

Updated

The Guardian’s Chris Watson, Finbarr Sheehy and Pete Guest provided more information behind what caused intense flooding in the Pacific north-west region months after record-breaking heatwaves.

These weather phenomenons taking place in areas like Abbotsford yesterday are also linked to the global climate crisis, explained further in the report with accompanying visuals.

Scientists who analysed the regional heatwave found that human-caused climate change made the extreme weather at least 150 times more likely. Referring to both the heatwave and the storms, Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik, an agricultural meteorologist at Washington State University, told NBC this week: “We were super hot and dry in the summer, and the switch flips. It definitely matches what the climate models show for the future around here – hotter, dryer summers and wetter winters.”

As the climate warms scientists expect atmospheric rivers to form in more rapid succession, grow more intense, and become longer, wetter and wider. According to Environment Canada, there have been five atmospheric rivers already this season, which is highly unusual.

The way in which the summer fires exacerbated the winter flooding is an example of a compound climate disaster.

Read the full report here.

Updated

More information has come out about a large fire in the Abbotsford area as flooding presents an additional obstacle to putting out the flames.

Authorities are still working to extinguish the large fire that took place at an RV dealership earlier this morning, with around 100 RVs packed tightly together on fire. There are reportedly about 40 firefighters battling the flames.

Authorities have also said that the fire is under high-voltage power lines, creating additional obstacles and danger.

While officials are still working to determine what cause the large fire, officials have encouraged residents in the surrounding areas to remain indoors as the blaze has created a plume of smoke that could be potentially toxic.

New aerial images of flooding in the Abbotsford area demonstrate the severe impact yesterday’s weather had.

The Abbotsford Police Department tweeted out new pictures taken this morning via helicopter of the Sumas Prairie area.

“RCMP’s Air 1 Helicopter has provided a photo of the Sumas Prairie taken this morning. This is an example of the current conditions,” tweeted the police department.

Updated

Evacuating people overnight proved 'a very tough situation', rescuers say

Search and rescue crews plucking people from the devastating flooding in the Abbotsford area have been describing the harrowing time residents have endured.

Fire and flood in the Sumas Prairie area of British Columbia, about 80 miles east of Vancouver.
Fire and flood in the Sumas Prairie area of British Columbia, about 80 miles east of Vancouver. Photograph: Jesse Winter/Reuters

One rescue team leader working throughout yesterday and into Wednesday said: “We’re evacuating people by air during the worst time of their life. The majority of people had elderly parents with them that were unable to walk, suffered from dementia. You’re trying to assist them into a helicopter at night, bringing only a very small amount of stuff. It was a very tough situation.”

Mike Danks was having a quick word with the media between rescue flights, an outlet reported in Agassiz, a town about 50 miles north-east of Abbotsford on the other side of the flooded Fraser River that runs through the region and down to Vancouver at the Pacific coast.

Danks said search crews are heading back out and air-lift rescues will continue today.

Meanwhile, thousands of farm animals are trapped and people are having trouble rescuing them, often being told by authorities to leave them behind in order to save themselves.

Trying to rescue stranded livestock in the flood zone.
Trying to rescue stranded livestock in the flood zone. Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters

Updated

The cross-border area between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Bellingham, Washington state, has suffered flooding, too, and there are some dramatic pictures and video clips, including by satellite.

It includes Whatcom county.

And just north, back near Abbotsford, an RV dealership is on fire and spewing smoke.

Updated

People have been evacuating from the Sumas Prairie area near Abbotsford, 80 miles inland from Vancouver, in fear for their lives as the region has been inundated with the devastating flooding.

The prairie was formed by a post-ice-age lake being drained almost a century ago and one local outlet has explained all about this and the recent history’s relevance to what is happening now.

Flooding in British Columbia, just north of the US-Canada border and a little to the east of Vancouver, has prompted this short video clip of the Coquihalla Highway road artery “snapped in two”.

And here’s the front page of the Vancouver Sun.

Abbotsford mayor says city is in 'deep doo doo' if they experience another major weather event

Abbotsford mayor Henry Braun warned that the city could not handle another major weather event in light of intense flooding last night in the Abbotsford area, reported Vernon Morning Star.

A vehicle is submerged in water after rainstorms caused flooding and landslides in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.
A vehicle is submerged in water after rainstorms caused flooding and landslides in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters

“If we had another weather event like we just went through… we are in deep doo doo,” said Braun during a press conference providing updates to ongoing flooding in the region.

Braun also confirmed that the Barrowtown Pump Station is operating at full capacity, but said that the situation remains “critical.”

“Pump station is operating at our full capacity… but it was never designed to take on water from another country,” said Braun.

According to Braun, city officials are hoping that the water drops by another metre, which would allow the city to open the flood gates at Barrowtown. The flood gates can let seven times more water through than the four pumps the city is currently relying on.

Updated

About 180 people were rescued last night during intense flooding in Abbotsford, said city officials during a press conference.

During a press conference on updates concerning ongoing flooding in the area, Abbotsford fire chief Darren Lee said that 180 people were rescued last night via air and water rescue.

Officials said that three helicopters were used overnight to get people who were unable to evacuate on their own and at least 11 rescue teams used boats.

Lee also confirmed that officials receive around 100 rescue calls from residents who were east of the flooding, but did not say how many of those calls were completed, reported CityNews Vancouver.

Updated

Amid massive flooding and the potential failure of the Barrowtown Pump Station last night, hundreds gathered to fill sandbags, reports CityNews Vancouver.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun thanked the almost 300 volunteers who gathered to help with the pump situation and for “buying” the city more time to address the flooding, but emphasized that the issue is not fully resolved.

Following Braun’s announcement yesterday that the pump station could potentially fail and plea for those in the Sumas Prairie area to evacuate, many community members went to the station to volunteer.

“At about 12 a.m. sandbagging started and there was probably 250 people,” said Erik, who volunteered with a friend after seeing a post on Facebook, to CityNews.

“We formed three lines and spent just over three hours building a wall. Heavy equipment worked on (the) more accessible north end of the station and continued to do so overnight.”

Firefighters at the pump station also helped organize volunteers who were on-site.

Later on, police asked residents not to come to the pump station, tweeting in an announcement that community members were “hampering emergency operations” in the area despite good intentions.

Share your experiences

Whether you live or work in the area, or are helping with search and rescue efforts with the emergency services, we would like to hear from you.

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BC government alert system 'sat silent' during intense flooding

Criticism grows over the failure of the BC Government’s Alert Ready emergency system to send out evacuation updates about intense flooding and weather in the BC region.

While the emergency alert system is enabled to send mobile alerts and broadcast evacuation updates on radios and TVs, it sat silent during major flooding last night, with most government evacuation orders being delivered via social media.

Rob Shaw of Daily Hive Vancouver reports:

The BC Government’s Alert Ready emergency system — which could have sent out a mobile alert to every cell phone in the region, as well as cut into radio and TV broadcasts with the evacuation alert — sat silent.

The government only uses it for tsunamis, so this “catastrophic” event did not qualify.

It was up to the City of Abbotsford to get the word out by itself, with its mayor and local emergency officials holding an impromptu press briefing late Tuesday night on the city’s YouTube channel — the makeshift event a far cry from the enormous reach of the provincial government’s largely quiet communications apparatus...

BC promised to expand the Alert Ready system after the summer’s heat dome killed 595 people, and the government found itself under fire for not doing enough to reach out to people before the emergency started to warn them to seek help in cooling centres.

But then the weekend flooding started, and instead of the broadcast system being ready for prime time it was scheduled to undergo a simple “test” message Wednesday (which was later cancelled after the real emergency started).

The province issued a statement late Tuesday night claiming it was “ready and available to issue a broadcast intrusive alert through the Alert Ready system” but that the “City of Abbotsford has indicated that it does not want to issue an alert at this time.”

Read the full report here.

Updated

As residents in Sumas Prairie were told to evacuate their homes amid intense flooding and weather in the area, more images have emerged of farmers attempting to rescue stranded farm animals.

Visual journalist Jesse Winter captured video of farmers and community members in Abbotsford using boats, jet skis, and other water crafts to rescue dozens of cattle caught in the flooding.

Another image by photographer Jennifer Gauthier similarly shows one resident attempting to rescue a stranded cow using a jet ski.

Updated

Canadian meteorologist Tyler Hamilton has tweeted his shock at the level of rainfall hitting western Canada:

The heat dome earlier this year and the current flooding are linked, as the Guardian’s George Monbiot points out:

One of the issues facing the areas affected by flooding is how to deal with the aftermath of the catastrophic deluge.

With highways damaged by flood waters, railways unusable and ports cut off from the rest of Canada, it could take weeks and even months for things to get back to normal.

Terry Glavin, at the National Post, has a dispatch on the sheer scale of the unfolding disaster in British Columbia:

At some point in the coming days the penny will drop, and we’ll all be seized of the implications attending to the ongoing disaster on Canada’s west coast. First the rain, then the wind, and soon, everything will be freezing. For starters, if you think the Canadian economy is beset by global “supply chain” bottlenecks now, you just wait.

The Port of Vancouver, North Fraser, Fraser-Surrey Docks and Deltaport are now cut off from the rest of Canada, by road and by rail. Both CN Rail and CP Rail are assessing the extent of the damage to their rail lines in the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon districts. Neither company knows when the trains will be moving again.

The worst rail disruptions may last only a few days, but the Coquihalla Highway — the main road route connecting Metro Vancouver with British Columbia’s southern interior and points east, with roughly three-quarters of a million commercial truck transits every year — is gone. Deputy British Columbia Premier Mike Farnsworth says it may take “several weeks or months” to re-open the highway.

These are some of the images emerging of the situation in Abbotsford, where flooding has left thousands of farm animals stranded.

A man attempts to lead cows to safety after they were stranded in a flooded barn following rainstorms in British Columbia.
A man attempts to lead cows to safety after they were stranded in a flooded barn following rainstorms in British Columbia. Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
A man is trying to coax a cow to safety in Abbotsford.
A man is trying to coax a cow to safety in Abbotsford. Photograph: Jesse Winter/Reuters
Flooded calf houses, used to shelter newborn calves, can be seen partly submerged.
Flooded calf houses, used to shelter newborn calves, can be seen partly submerged. Photograph: Jonathan Hayward/AP
One man tries to pull a cow to safety.
One man tries to pull a cow to safety. Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters

Thousands of cattle feared stranded as farmers told to save themselves

There have been reports of dairy farmers struggling to get their animals to safety after being stranded by the floods.

Darcy Matheson, from the Daily Hive in Vancouver, tweeted:

The Daily Hive reports:

Abbotsford, in the heart of BC’s Fraser Valley, is a major hub for agriculture in the province, with many large scale dairy, livestock and poultry operations. Those operations can contain thousands of animals — one single chicken farm can house more than 15,000 birds, for instance — and many are in the Sumas Prairie, which is largely submerged after an “atmospheric river” resulted in widespread flooding.

Since then, the Abbotsford mayor has reportedly asked farmers to leave their cattle behind and save themselves.

Updated

Mike Lindblom has been covering the Pacific north-west floods for the Seattle Times and summed up what it had been like in the north of Washington state up against the Canadian border like this:

An estimated 75% of homes in Sumas sustained water damage, a dozen train cars derailed, and electric power stopped in what officials from the border town of 1,300 people called a devastating event. City Hall is full of water. Highway 9 and its Canadian border crossing remained closed.

But he did have some reasonably good news for the weather outlook for later in the week, which will be a relief to residents and first responders.

Mostly clear skies are predicted for the next several days, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mike McFarland. A possible quarter-inch of rain could fall late Thursday, but that’s hydrologically insignificant after the region endured two “atmospheric rivers” of rain, he said.

There remain some warnings in place – the Skagit flood warning stays in effect until Thursday.

“Bad things can still happen,” McFarland said. “It’s too early to relax if you’re anywhere around the Skagit and the Nooksack rivers.”

Our community team are keen to hear your stories if you have been affected by the Pacific north-west storm and resultant floods. They would like to hear from you whether you live or work in the area, or are helping with search and rescue efforts with the emergency services. The details of how to get in touch are here: Tell us – how have you been affected by the Pacific north-west storm?

The downpour on the western seaboard of Canada and Washington state was caused by what is know as an “atmospheric river”. This carries a large amount of water from the sea, and usually releases it as rain or snow when it reaches land. However, there are factors that have made this particular incident so severe. Over at Canada’s Globe and Mail, their environment specialists spoke to experts who explained it like this:

Much of the affected area had experienced drought just months earlier, accompanied by wildfire in some cases. Armel Castellan at Environment Canada said this reduced vegetation and primed soils for structural failure. “I’m not surprised to see the releases of landslides and mudslides and debris flows in the Fraser Valley, the Coquihalla and the Lytton corridor and so on,” he said.

Castellan added that many affected areas previously had snowfall, including at mid-elevations on mountainsides. “When you dump a lot of rain on that snow, it melts very quickly,” he said.

Compounding matters, much of British Columbia has already experienced a particularly wet autumn. “The soil was already saturated when this rainfall event came,” said Jeremy Venditti, a professor of environmental science at Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Natural Hazards Research. “And so the water had nowhere to go but run off into rivers, ditches and creeks.”

Leyland Cecco in Toronoto wrote a piece for us yesterday which has been widely shared on social media, explaining some of the human-made factors that have also gone into causing this disaster.

Read Leyland Cecco’s piece here: ‘A tipping point’: how poor forestry fuels floods and fires in western Canada

One of the issues that authorities face in trying to evacuate people during a weather emergency like this is a fear of looting, one that has been expressed by some residents in Merritt, British Columbia.

Penny Daflos reports for CTV News Vancouver that a Merritt resident called Darsell Poittris told her “More than half the town’s gone, it seems like an open door for come take what you want. Every accommodation we called was sold out so where do you go? I’d rather be in my house having these issues than in my car with my animals and my kids.”

Flood waters cover neighbourhoods after severe rain prompted the evacuation of Merritt.
Flood waters cover neighbourhoods after severe rain prompted the evacuation of Merritt. Photograph: Artur Gajda/Reuters

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth has attempted to reassure residents, saying that “The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are on patrol, they are in the communities that they are protecting so they are very much alive to the concerns and situations of residents. People should have every confidence the RCMP are there in their communities protecting life and protection property.”

Snowfall in the area has exacerbated the difficult conditions, and civic officials have warned that a failed sewage treatment plant has contaminated the waters. There’s also been at least one bridge collapse as a result of the floodwater.

People try to avoid flood waters a day after severe rain prompted the evacuation of Merritt.
People try to avoid flood waters a day after severe rain prompted the evacuation of Merritt. Photograph: Artur Gajda/Reuters

Here is how local news station CTV News Vancouver has been reporting the situation in Abbotsford after the mayor issued an evacuation warning, citing the risk of Barrowtown Pump Station failing. They wrote:

First responders believe there are many people who remain in the evacuated area, including an unconfirmed number who require water rescue due to previous flooding from the intense storm that bombarded the province on Sunday and Monday.

The city described the Barrowtown Pump Station as a “critical piece of infrastructure” preventing Sumas Lake from reforming, and said the failure of even one of its four pumps would result in quickly rising water levels in the Sumas Prairie, which has been under an evacuation order since Tuesday morning.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said Abbotsford’s engineering team is working hard to keep the pump station operational, but that there’s no telling how long they will be able to sustain it.

“If there is an overflow into the pump station – that water level is now about a metre below – this situation will become critical very quickly,” the mayor said. “Even at four pumps running full bore, that water has continued to rise.”

The Sumas Prairie was created in the early twentieth century when the low-lying freshwater Lake Sumas was drained.

The latest Associated Press despatch from the affected area reports that fast-rising water levels from a Sumas River in Washington state overwhelmed rescuers in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on Tuesday, where 1,100 homes were evacuated. Those residents joined thousands of others in the province who were forced from their homes by floods or landslides starting Sunday night.

Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said that impassable highways were creating havoc as authorities tried to get people to evacuation sites. “It breaks my heart to see what’s going on in our city,” he said.

Aerial image of Abbotsford.
Aerial image of Abbotsford. Photograph: CITY OF ABBOTSFORD/AFP/Getty Images

Southwest of Sumas, Washington, a 59-year-old man from Everson identified by police as Jose Garcia remained missing after his truck was swept into a flooded field and he had been clinging to a tree.

On the US side crews partially reopened the West Coast’s main north-south highway, Interstate 5, near Bellingham, Washington, following its complete closure overnight because of mudslide debris. The northbound lanes remained closed Tuesday evening as crews continued working.

A car is partially submerged on the flooded Roeder Ave in Bellingham, Washington.
A car is partially submerged on the flooded Roeder Ave in Bellingham, Washington. Photograph: Btv-City Of Bellingham, Wa/Reuters

You can get a glimpse of the impact of the flooding from this satellite image of the greater Vancouver area in British Columbia that has been released by the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme, taken by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites.

A satellite image of the greater Vancouver area.
A satellite image of the greater Vancouver area. Photograph: EUROPEAN UNION, COPERNICUS SENTINEL-2 IMAGERY HANDOUT/EPA

Abbotsford residents told to leave

Hello, and welcome to our coverage of the ongoing flooding situation in western Canada and Washington state in the US, where severe rainstorms have left at least one person dead, and there are reports of more missing.

Residents in the Sumas Prairie neighborhood in Abbotsford, British Columbia have been told to evacuate because of fears that the Barrowtown Pump Station will fail and let in excess water from the Fraser River enter the already flooded area. Other areas were told to evacuate on Monday evening.

Two motorways connecting Vancouver have been closed, and British Columbia’s minister of transportation, Rob Fleming, has told a news conference it was the “worst weather storm in a century”.

Updated

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