A slide on Highway 7 near Agassiz. The District of Kent, which includes Agassiz, issued a local state of emergency after the landslides cut off Highway 7.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Ministry of Transportation
November 15, 2021 - 11:59 AM
AGASSIZ, B.C. - Rescue efforts are underway for people in up to 100 vehicles trapped by mudslides that rolled over a highway in British Columbia's Fraser Valley following an "atmospheric river" that brought torrential rain to parts of the province.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said search and rescue crews are assessing how to safely get to Highway 7 near Agassiz as multiple highways are closed due to the downpour that is expected to continue for much of the day.
"They will be doing everything they can to ensure that they reach people who are trapped in their vehicles between those slides as quickly as possible," Farnworth said.
Farnworth said they were looking at the possibility of an air rescue if needed, although predicted high winds could challenge those efforts.
Geotechnical engineers are also trying to assess several highways severed by landslides, while some communities that issued evacuation alerts were sandbagging and bracing for potential flooding, he said.
Paula Cousins, the Ministry of Transportation's representative for the Interior region, said the Highway 5 corridor between Hope and Merritt remain closed Monday due to slides and falling rocks after 200 millimetres of rain since the weekend.
Heavy rain was expected to give way later Monday to storms that could uproot trees and cause more power outages in some areas after 16,000 customers, mostly in the eastern Fraser Valley, were without electricity on Sunday.
Armel Castellan, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said wind gusts up to 90 kilometres an hour were expected for Victoria and much of the south coast and into the Interior.
"Definitely the atmospheric river will end today as it moves south, deeper into Washington state. That said, as that clearing happens, it's going to be coming with a big shot of wind," he said.
A local state of emergency has been declared in part of British Columbia's eastern Fraser Valley where unrelenting rainfall caused flooding, mud and rock slides and the closure of highways to and from the southern Interior.
Environment Canada said 225 millimetres of rain had deluged the community of Hope since the storm began Saturday and 180 millimetres had fallen around Agassiz and Chilliwack.
The District of Kent, which includes Agassiz, issued a local state of emergency after the landslides cut off Highway 7.
Flood warnings and watches were issued for areas from Merritt south to the United States border, the lower Fraser region and sections of southern Vancouver Island.
Rising rivers or landslides also prompted evacuation orders in Merritt, Agassiz, Abbotsford and in Princeton, where a dike burst Monday morning, forcing residents of about 200 properties from their homes.
About 7,000 people from the city of Merritt were ordered to leave as the Coldwater River quickly started overtaking roads and bridges.
"The floodwaters have now inundated two bridges across the Coldwater River, and floodwaters prevent access to the third," said the alert ordering the evacuation.
"High floodwaters have rendered the city’s wastewater treatment plant inoperable for an indefinite period. Continued habitation of the community without sanitary services presents risk of mass sewage backup and personal health risk."
The weather office said a further 50 millimetres of rain could drench the eastern Fraser Valley. Rain, snow and wind warnings covered most of the southern third of the province.
The City of Abbotsford opened a reception centre Sunday for residents who couldn't get home or who were forced out because of mudslides or flooding at several locations.
The city said in a statement that the slides cut off several routes, and those who needed shelter or assistance could go to the Abbotsford Recreational Centre.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2021.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2021