Military dispatched to B.C. to help clean up and rebuild after historic floods
CBC
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to help British Columbia recover from catastrophic flooding and mudslides that destroyed critical infrastructure, highways, and farmland this week — and forced thousands to flee their homes.
Trudeau said 120 members of the Canadian Armed Forces have been dispatched to Abbotsford, B.C., one of the worst hit areas east of Vancouver, and another 350 members are standing by in Edmonton. Soldiers have rescued about 300 people, he told a news conference after the North American Leaders' Summit in Washington
Beginning Friday, military members will help construct a 2.5 kilometre flood levee in Abbotsford, in B.C.'s Fraser Valley east of Vancouver. It's hoped the levee will stop water from spilling across the Trans Canada Highway.
Ranchers and farmers in B.C.'s Fraser Valley have been particularly hard hit by floods, with the region containing half of the province's dairy farms. Many of those farms are in Abbotsford, with hundreds of farms flooded in the low-lying Sumas Prairie region east of the city.
Friday school closures in the Fraser Valley include all schools in the Fraser Cascade School District and Chilliwack School District, as well as Barrowtown, Matsqui and Upper Sumas elementary schools in Abbotsford.
Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said the price tag for fixing the damaged infrastructure in the town of 120,000 could reach $1 billion.
The floods were triggered by historic rainfall on the weekend. More than 20 daily rainfall records shattered across the province.
By Thursday evening, more than 17,000 residents were still out of their homes, and people in another 7,000 properties have been ordered to leave throughout the province. About 2,700 properties in B.C. were under evacuation alert.
WATCH | Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledges support for B.C.:
Meanwhile, reconstruction and cleanup efforts have begun across the province. At a media conference Thursday afternoon, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said construction companies and workers were eager to get started.
Farnworth said it was too early to assess the monetary impact of the devastating floods, but the province has asked Ottawa for help, and is prepared to bear the fiscal costs involved.
At the media conference, Agriculture Minister Lana Popham said other provinces and Washington state have offered to send resources to help the province's farm animals. Many animals were trapped in barns without clean food or water, and owners were ordered to evacuate without their animals in tow.
Popham had said earlier in the week that thousands of animals had perished in the floods. On Thursday, she said the province was using helicopters to drop water and aid isolated farmers
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