Flooding in BC

BEN NELMS/CBC

In November, an unprecedented rainfall and series of storms took place in BC, now referred to as a “weather bomb.” The extreme rain resulted in floods, landslides, mudslides, damage to agriculture and huge loss of farm life, along with four confirmed deaths. The lasting consequences of these events are still unfolding, with a state of emergency decreed and cleanup underway.

This downpour ravaged the province and surprised meteorologists. Armel Castellan, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, stated at a news conference on November 16, “[Calculations] point toward a widespread 1-in-50 year event, with many locations seeing a one-in-100 year event. That is putting into context how anomalous this event was.” According to Environment Canada, between November 13 and November 15, 24 communities in BC received more than 100 millimeters of rain. The highest amount of rain fell in Hope, with 252 mm in the same timeframe, followed by the Coquihalla Summit with 238 mm, Agassiz with 228 mm, Chilliwack with 219mm, and Squamish with 206mm.  

For comparison, Hope, usually gets about 344 mm of rain in the entire month of November in a typical year. 

This “weather bomb” has left large sections of BC, specifically the Fraser Valley, in crisis. BC entered a state of emergency and commenced a cleanup to assess the damage done to the province’s transportations networks, infrastructure and thousands of properties. Emergency efforts concerning the floods have involved the Canadian Armed Forces and are ongoing. 

Floods have left thousands evacuated from their homes. As of November 18, 20,000 people were out of their homes and the city of Hope was hosting 1,000 evacuees. 

Although highways have reopened, many roads and highways were damaged and some closed during the storm, leaving many stranded, and disturbing supply chains. 

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Rob Fleming said, “our focus is on clearing, repairing and reopening roads to connect the Interior and the North to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, to get our supply chains moving.”

Restrictions to save resources including limits on gas consumption have been imposed. There are also concerns on food supply, especially poultry and other foods industries specifically affected by the rainfall. 

The havoc has reached the food and farming industry of BC. Thousands of farm animals have died, including cows, chickens, and pigs. According to Agriculture Minister Lana Popham, 640,000 animals have been confirmed dead. This includes 12,000 hogs, 420 cows, 628,000 chickens and possibly 110 bee hives. 

Farmers in the Fraser Valley were particularly affected by this and are trying to restore their lost livestock presently. Another pending problem for people restoring farms will be the carcasses of animals, which has been pressed by Popham for its importance.

The full damage caused by the floods and cost for fixing it is still unknown, leaving BC farmers in an unfortunate predicament.

Andreas Weigel, a weather peril lead at Swiss Re said regarding BC’s current state’s connection to climate change: “If you look at the German floods this [past] summer – and the atmospheric river that happened in Canada just now – we cannot say that this is climate change, but we can say that climate change makes such events more likely.”