Abbotsford residents recover from flooding; More rain on the way

Parts of Abbotsford remain under a flood warning, and thousands of residents were without power Monday, while even more rain is forecast to fall on the region.

As the floodwaters in Abbotsford recede, residents are left with the cleanup efforts. Having learned from the 2021 flood, some homeowners who spoke with The Leader Spirit were proactive in not leaving valuables in their basements. But not everything could be saved.

“There was two and a half feet of water in the basement, didn’t make it up to the top, but everything down here was soaking wet,” said Rick Jamieson.

“I know I had time, but I was so naïve. I was like, ‘This is not going to happen twice. I can’t happen again,’” said Kristin Sayn. “That’s what’s most annoying, it’s the clean up after — it’s smelly, it’s the silt.”

Others like Kathar Thandi, whose home — directly adjacent to Highway 1 — is still flooded and without power, have more to do.

“In 2021, the whole basement was redone totally. One hundred per cent. And, 2023 April, we moved in, and… got to redo the basement again,” said Thandi.

While crews are working quickly to reopen roads and highways, Abbotsford is still at risk.

Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Kelly Greene explained the risk in an update Monday afternoon.

“The ground is saturated in many areas. The rivers are full. Additional rainfall is going to increase the potential for more flooding and landslides,” said Greene.

As residents navigate recovery and insurance claims, the question of why there is no long-term flood mitigation plan remains.

“Even though we were built to ‘flood standards,’ nothing was done after the 1990 or the 2021 [floods],” said Sayn.

“Mother nature,” Thandi laughed. “You can’t beat it, so you just try to adapt the best you can. Apparently, nothing is happening down south, where the water comes from, the Nooksack River. Whatever we do here is just going to be a stopgap measure.”

As of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, BC Hydro says power has been restored to most Lower Mainland and Sunshine customers after the windstorm that caused outages to nearly 90,000 customers.

Around 3,000 customers are still without electricity, but the utility says, “Crews are working to restore power to remaining customers today, including Mission, Kent, Hope, Squamish, Abbotsford and other areas.”

Meanwhile, the City of Abbotsford released an update around the same time. It says Environment and Climate Change Canada has downgraded a heavy rain weather alert from an ‘orange’ level to ‘yellow.’

“A Flood Warning for the Sumas River remains in effect from the BC River Forecast Centre; however, water levels in the river are gradually receding. Forecast for the Nooksack River at North Cedarville continue to improve, with levels expected to remain well below flood stage. The Emergency Operations Centre continues to monitor these weather conditions and river projections very closely,” said the city.

On Monday, Abbotsford downgraded evacuation orders for 41 properties to evacuation alerts. It says those residents should stay prepared to leave their homes on short notice, and all residents can check the status of their property on the city’s regularly updated, interactive map.