Fraser Valley

B.C. funds Fraser River shoreline flood protection in Fraser Valley

B.C. funds Fraser River shoreline flood protection in Fraser Valley

A First Nation in British Columbia will receive a boost from the province for shoreline stabilization, with the chief saying it is under consistent threat of flooding. The $5 million aimed at so-called riprap erosion control measures is going to the Sqwa First Nation, Shxwha:y Village and the City of Chilliwack. The announcement comes a week after the province provided $23.4 million in funding to 49 communities to help reduce risks from future disasters related to natural hazards and climate change, including $150,000 for a drainage pump station upgrade design in Chilliwack. 

One year after flooding disaster, recovery continues for Fraser Valley farmers

One year after flooding disaster, recovery continues for Fraser Valley farmers

Farmer Richard Bosma points to an armpit-level felt pen mark on the wall of his milking barn to show how high the water rose during the catastrophic flooding on his Fraser Valley dairy farm almost a year ago. "So there were about 54 inches of water here at its peak," he said. In another barn, Bosma introduces assembled media and politicians to Miracle, a black-and-white, hay-munching calf that earned its name by arriving in the world immediately after its mother was rescued from the rising water.

The Sprout: Recovering from floods will take years: B.C. farmers

The Sprout: Recovering from floods will take years: B.C. farmers

We start in British Columbia, where more heavy rainfall is expected this week and flooding shows no signs of abating. Floodwaters in the hard-hit community of Abbotsford are rising again as the Nooksack River south of the border overflows. Farmers in the region continue to assess the damage to their operations. As the Canadian Press reports, blueberry farmer David Gill says the devastating floods have set famers back by “at least a decade” and it will take them years to recover. Thousands of livestock were killed in the floods and fields across the Fraser Valley are still flooded with contaminated water. As CBC News reports, experts say it will be weeks before farmers know how the contaminated waters have affected the region’s fertile farmland.

Fraser Valley farmers won't know for weeks how floodwaters have affected prized soil

Fraser Valley farmers won't know for weeks how floodwaters have affected prized soil

Six days into the flood, Harman Kaur and her husband took a drive past their acreage and found thousands of their ruby-red blueberry bushes were still completely buried in the murky, brown floodwater. Leaking pesticides swirled around the field. Garbage and gas tanks floated past. The smell of fuel filled their noses. "There was a complete layer of oil on top [of the water], and we're talking what I could just see from the road," said Kaur, 29, whose family has owned their farm in the Arnold area of Abbotsford, B.C., for more than a decade.

Farmer devastated over loss of crop says dream of making Abbotsford the 'saffron capital' of B.C. persists

Farmer devastated over loss of crop says dream of making Abbotsford the 'saffron capital' of B.C. persists

For Avtar Dhillon, living in the Sumas Prairie in Abbotsford meant cultivating his dream to farm the world's most expensive spice in British Columbia. Now his crop of about 250,000 saffron bulbs lies still under several feet of muddied water. The farmer, who recently said he was B.C.'s first to farm saffron on a large commercial scale, says his farm has suffered catastrophic damage due to flooding in the Fraser Valley. "I'm very upset about [the] saffron ... I take six years to get to this point ... and then Monday just lost everything." For Dhillon, who is also a blueberry farmer, it took several years of experimenting with different methods of growing saffron before finding one that worked.

Helicopters drop drinking water at flooded B.C. farms

Helicopters drop drinking water at flooded B.C. farms

Karl Meier has spent days battling to save his property and dairy cattle from flooding in British Columbia's Fraser Valley, but he says the biggest issue right now is with local law enforcement. "It was bad enough we had to fight the water, but now we've got to fight someone against what we're trying to do," said Meier. Meier owns U & D Meier Dairy in the Sumas Prairie region of Abbotsford, about 100 kilometres east of Vancouver. The area is under an evacuation order because of flooding in the nearby Sumas River. Police-enforced roadblocks have been set up around the area to prevent people from coming or going. Meier said this is making it difficult for people to bring in supplies to the farmers who have chosen to stay to protect their business and their animals.

Flooding in B.C. ‘testing the resilience’ of dairy farmers, says association

Flooding in B.C. ‘testing the resilience’ of dairy farmers, says association

Farmers in southern British Columbia are coming together to save livestock as parts of the Fraser Valley remain under water from devastating flooding, says a member of the association that represents the province’s dairy farmers. Holger Schwichtenberg, chair of the board for the BC Dairy Association, said he was not yet sure how many farmers were working to move their milking cows, but in such situations, they would reach out for help to get their animals off site.