Over the weekend of Jan. 27, Abbotsford was once again met with heavy rain. City crews were actively monitoring the weather, inspecting storm water structure inlets to ensure they were all clear of debris, drawing down water levels in existing storm water storage facilities to make extra capacity, inspecting key storm ditches and culverts for debris and onsite at Barrowtown Pump Station 24/7. Staff were also in close communication with Whatcom County and the B.C.’s Emergency Management and Climate Readiness team for their latest updates.
Anytime the phrase “atmospheric river” is mentioned, we know a ripple of anxiety spreads across the community, given our history of flooding. While this weather event saw localized pooling of water in typical areas that we see during heavy rains each year, all of us on Abbotsford City Council also feel a ripple of anxiety when we hear that phrase given our history. We know it only takes a quick change in the amount of precipitation and an increase in the snow melt to elevate the risk and particularly for water to overflow from the Nooksack River in Washington State. For this reason, we are continuing to advocate for a much-needed enhanced flood protection for Sumas Prairie.
On Sunday January 28th, Mayor Siemens spoke with B.C. Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Bowinn Ma to make sure the Province knew what was happening on the ground and again reemphasizing our urgent need for support.
Last July, we submitted a $1.6 billion application for Disaster Mitigation and Adaption Funding that will support additional resilience work for the Barrowtown Pump Station, the construction of a Sumas River pump station and the creation of a habitat enhancement/flood storage area to enhance protection for the Sumas Prairie. We have yet to hear if our application has been accepted but as a Council, we are eagerly awaiting an update.
It is critical that we move forward with the most urgent works related to our long-term flood mitigation plan to ensure our families, farmers, businesses, and our provincial food system remains secure and that Highway 1, our national highway and province’s key transportation corridor, is protected. Mayor Siemens spent most of his first day back from vacation on Monday speaking to reporters about this need and advocating for funding from senior levels of government for much needed support. So much so, he nearly lost his voice!
Some of us have family with farms on Sumas Prairie, and we all have friends residing there as well, so we’ve heard first hand how worried and frustrated residents and farmers are, and we share that worry and frustration. They’ve invested millions of dollars into businesses over generations and as the Agriculture Capital of Canada, we feed the Province and our location is critical for international trade through the border and goods coming through the Port of Vancouver. What we know for sure is that we wont rest easy until Abbotsford is in the best position possible to address what comes our way.
Abbotsford City Council