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A flooded roadway in Abbotsford on Monday after rainstorms lashed British Columbia.Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
Isolated by flooding and running critically low on feed, a hog farm in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley may soon receive emergency supplies by air.
B.C. Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said the strategy was used during the catastrophic flooding of 2021 and is an example of important partnerships between the province and local industries in times of need.
“They have about one day’s worth of food left, so we’re working with that farm and looking at possibly delivering food by helicopter if that’s needed,” she said at an update on flooding conditions with provincial officials Monday.
British Columbia’s South Coast received heavy precipitation overnight from Sunday into Monday morning, increasing flood and landslide risk. Flood warnings were either issued or maintained for the Chilliwack and Sumas rivers and the North Shore Mountains, and flood watches for tributaries of the Lower Fraser, as well as the Kingcome River, Vancouver Island and the South Coast.
B.C. braces for more rain as evacuation orders ease
Many in the Fraser Valley remain on tenterhooks because of the severe flooding event that began last week, but updates from municipal and provincial officials give reason for optimism along with caution.
Connie Chapman with the province’s water management branch said Monday that river levels from the current weather system were peaking and would soon recede. Localized rain is expected Tuesday for Hope, Chilliwack and Abbotsford – areas hard hit by flooding – but precipitation at higher altitudes is expected to fall as snow, she said.
Water from the Nooksack River, which overtopped its banks south of the Canada-U.S. border last Thursday and flowed north into Abbotsford for days, had stopped by Monday, the B.C. city said in an update.
Ms. Popham said Monday there were no reports of rising waters on farms and no calls to the province’s agricultural emergency response line in the previous 24 hours.
About 100 properties in B.C. remained on evacuation order Monday, and 1,200 on evacuation alert.
Community hopes for receding water levels after flood in B.C.’s Fraser Valley
B.C. Emergency Preparedness Minister Kelly Greene cautioned that the situation continues to be “dynamic and evolving” and urged people to avoid riverbanks and waterways.
Meanwhile, those in affected areas continue to grapple with flood damage.
Ms. Popham said six poultry farms have been flooded and that her ministry is in contact with each, assisting with animal disposal and other responsibilities.
Rapid damage assessments to determine whether properties are safe to re-enter continue. To date, of all Abbotsford properties downgraded from an evacuation order, 292 were assessed as safe, 16 restricted subject to varying conditions and none have been deemed dangerous, prohibiting re-entry.
The province’s animal and plant health centre in Abbotsford, considered the backbone of B.C.’s food safety system, remains flooded and running on generators, and is not expected to reopen until at least late January.
The Agriculture Minister said the centre is a critical piece of infrastructure at this time of year, given the continuing avian influenza outbreaks in B.C., as well as it being hunting season.
On Monday, the province sent 1,200 samples to Ontario to be tested for chronic wasting disease, a fatal infection that affects ungulates such as deer, elk, moose and caribou, Ms. Popham said.
