Nooksack River

Nooksack River, source of B.C. and Washington flooding fears, to get new plan

Nooksack River, source of B.C. and Washington flooding fears, to get new plan

Leaders from B.C. and Washington state say they have reached an agreement to work together on redeveloping a flooding prevention plan and response for the Nooksack River. Flooding in southern B.C. and northern Washington in November displaced an estimated 500 people south of the border and about 14,000 were forced to flee their homes on the Canadian side. Rising water levels in the Nooksack contributed to flooding on the Sumas Prairie in Abbotsford and resulted in billions of dollars of damage to the province’s agriculture industry. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says in a release that flooding will continue to worsen in the face of population growth, development and climate change, and a long-term approach on both sides of the border is needed.

Liberal MLA for Abbotsford calls on province to help farmers restore properties, businesses

Liberal MLA for Abbotsford calls on province to help farmers restore properties, businesses

The Liberal MLA for Abbotsford South says the provincial government should be responsible for helping farmers in flood-stricken communities get back on their feet. Bruce Banman says the province failed to notify its residents, especially in floodplain areas like the Sumas Prairie, when an atmospheric river brought more than 200 millimetres of rain earlier this month. "This government was not paying attention to the Nooksack River at all and we lost 48 precious hours to be able to move equipment," Banman said on the CBC's The Early Edition.

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.