Abbotsford planning how to prevent future Sumas Prairie flooding

The City of Abbotsford is inviting residents to help decide on a plan to prevent future catastrophic flooding in the Sumas Prairie.

The City of Abbotsford is inviting residents to help decide on a plan to prevent future catastrophic flooding in the Sumas Prairie.

Four options will be presented to council Monday. The least expensive has a price tag of $209 million and the costliest is nearly $2.8 billion.

“Options provide varying levels of enhanced flood mitigation compared to current infrastructure in place,” says a release from the city.

“The City of Abbotsford needs to take immediate action to implement a solution within our municipality so that our community is not as significantly impacted when future weather events occur.”

Last year, when the Nooksack River in Washington state breached its banks, homes, businesses and farms in the area were devastated. Over 3,300 people fled their homes, and more than 600,000 poultry, 12,000 hogs, 420 dairy cattle and 120 beehives were lost in the floods. Mayor Henry Braun has estimated the damage to the city – including this hardest-hit area – at over $1 billion.

“The November 2021 rainfall in Abbotsford was estimated to be approximately a one-in-100-year event,” the release from the city continues.

“Due to increased weather events and impacts from climate change, more flood events could occur if improvements are not made.”