Abbotsford (Abbotsford City Council) – November 13 to 15 2021, marks four years since the Nooksack River overflowed and breached its dike and floodwater headed straight to Abbotsford, flooding Sumas Prairie and wreaking havoc on our entire community. The November 2021 flood devastated some of the most productive agricultural land in the country, disrupted thousands of lives, put incredible strain on our infrastructure and resources, and left a lasting mark on our city. While the recovery journey has been long and often frustrating, we are happy to say we have reached an important milestone – all major flood recovery projects are either complete or underway.
Over the past year, crews have worked tirelessly to finalize the remaining recovery and repair projects throughout the community. This includes completion of the Cole Road Dike, Sumas River bank stabilization, and the permanent repairs to the North Parallel Road Dike (near Barrowtown) – all critical components of our flood mitigation infrastructure.
We’ve also completed the final landslide repairs at the remaining sites across the community, including Old Yale Road (Majuba Hill), Auguston Sewer Access Road, Ivy Court, Cariboo Court and Latimer Road, with the last remaining site at Ash Street expected to be completed by the end of this month. In addition, the City has completed sediment and debris removal in several waterways, helping to restore flow capacity during the rainy season.
At Barrowtown Pump Station, we continue to make progress on key resiliency upgrades. Construction of phase one of a new floodwall is now complete, with design for phase two currently underway. This new floodwall will reduce the risk of Barrowtown Pump Station not operating during a major Nooksack overflow event. Planning has also begun for the pump refurbishment and mechanical and electrical upgrades, which we expect will be completed by the end of 2027. The backup power generator is now installed and that project is fully complete, which will ensure the pumps stay operational during a power outage.
After four long years, the only remaining recovery projects are the Lakemount Bridge permanent replacement, which is currently under design, replacing the sandbags on North Parallel Road with a lock block for a better temporary flood wall, and the Clayburn Creek bank repairs, which are being led by the Ministry of Environment. The first year of construction work on that project is now complete and work continues under provincial leadership.
We know it’s taken a long time to reach this point. Many residents have asked why some of these recovery projects stretched out over several years, and the answer comes down to factors like complex environmental permitting, limited “fish window” construction timeframes, a lengthy multi-agency approval process and most significantly, the cost and scale of rebuilding or replacing damaged infrastructure.
These factors, along with the need to protect our residents, businesses, farms, the region’s main transportation corridor and the provincial food supply is why long-term flood mitigation is so critical, and why we won’t stop advocating for the funding support needed from senior levels of government to move forward with the urgent works component of our long-term flood mitigation plan. The last four years have shown us just how long, costly and resource-intensive flood recovery can be. Municipalities cannot do this alone. It takes a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of persistence. And that’s why long-term flood mitigation remains a top priority for us, because without it, Abbotsford, our provincial economy and provincial food security will continue to be at risk.
