(Victoria) British Columbia is bracing for the worst again. Struggling with a succession of storms, the province once again expects heavy rainfall to hit the territory, while parts of the Municipality of Abbotsford are threatened by flooding.
Two weeks ago, a major storm forced residents to evacuate their community and destroyed buildings.
Authorities now expect a third atmospheric river to reach the central coast of the province on Monday. It would then move south on Tuesday and could wreak havoc until Wednesday. Another storm had started on Saturday and was still being felt in parts on Sunday.
PHOTO CHAD HIPOLITO, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth
“We are in the midst of one of the most intense series of storms we have seen along the BC coast,” Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said on Sunday.
He called on residents of the province’s north, central and south coasts, Vancouver Island, Abbotsford and the Sumas Plain to prepare for the worst.
The Nooksack River comes out of its bed
The Municipality of Abbotsford is particularly on its guard.
The Nooksack River in Washington state has risen from its bed, Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said on Sunday. In the afternoon, authorities in Whatcom County, south of the border, confirmed that the water had broken the dike in Everson, reports Radio-Canada. The water was expected to reach Abbotsford in the evening.
The mayor of the municipality said on Sunday that the water level had risen by nearly 10 centimeters in the past 24 hours in the Sumas Plain. He believes that dikes and sandbags will not be able to stop the flow of the Nooksack River.
Already, Sunday morning, houses in the Huntingdon Village area of Abbotsford had to be evacuated.
More than fifty properties must also be evacuated in the area of Petit Creek-Spius Creek, west of Merritt.
The state of emergency was also declared Sunday in Hope because of the risk of flooding that could befall the municipality.
The areas of Laidlaw Road, Fancher Road, McKay Road, Dent Road and Hunter Creek Road must be evacuated, the Fraser Valley Regional District ordered.
The River Forecast Center has released a flood warning for the Coquihalla River.
Sections of routes 1, 3 and 99 are closed. Minister Farnworth is asking residents to avoid non-essential travel.
The province ready to set up its alert system
British Columbia said it was ready on Sunday to deploy a national emergency alert system, the On alert.
This program allows authorities to send public safety alerts through radios and televisions, as well as cell phones.
The province was criticized last summer for not using On alert at the time of the major forest fires which devastated the town of Lytton and several sectors of the territory.
Minister Farnworth said the system will be deployed if a threat to life or public safety is detected. He said the government was in close contact with local authorities to assess the situation on the ground.
“Local governments are the experts on the ground, and emergency managers at the local and provincial levels will continue to coordinate closely in the days to come,” he said.
With The Canadian Press and The Province