‘Princeton always steps up for Princeton’: Community comes together amid flooding, evacuations

Justin Greer rescued his aunt and her dog from the second storey of her home in Princeton after heavy rainfall caused the Tulameen River to rise rapidly, breaching dikes and flooding the low-lying areas in town.

The town of about 3,000 remains under a state of emergency, with 295 properties ordered to evacuate and another 300 on alert.

My kids hockey team is trying to get home from Calgary.
The flooding in Princeton, BC.
Credit: Michael McRea – fellow hockey dad #StormBC #BCFlood #BCStorm #PrincetonBC #flooding pic.twitter.com/psoGwXazSO

— Matthew Campbell (@YellowJerseyAdv) November 15, 2021

Greer says the home he lives in with his wife is on high ground, but he watched in shock as the river swelled.

“It was just rising like crazy when we woke up this morning,” he tells CityNews.

https://twitter.com/Midnightrider98/status/1460285905307013126

Soon after, he learned his aunt was trapped in her house.

“At one point she said it was like up to her neck on the first floor in her two floor place. She said it just started rising so fast, and so she just went upstairs and then waited this out,” he says.

“Me and my dad decided to drive into town to see if we could get her out of there. I have a really big truck that’s really tall, so I can go in really deep water.”

But once he got closer to where his aunt lives, it became clear even his truck wouldn’t be able to make it to her property.

“We thought I could just drive the truck right to the front door but it was just too deep. I got within like 150 feet of the house and it was just too deep. I had to turn around.”

That’s when he spotted a boat nearby.

“I knocked on people’s house where it was tied in front of and no one answered. So I just hopped in the boat, a couple of guys gave me a push off and I just started paddling over to her house.”

I spoke to Justin Greer who rescued his aunt (and her dog) from the second floor of her home in Princeton, B.C. Mayor tells me 295 properties so far ordered to evacuate, more bad weather in the forecast but the community, volunteers are looking out for one another amid chaos. pic.twitter.com/KK0Rde4Ixz

— Lisa Steacy (@lisa_steacy) November 16, 2021

When he got closer, he came across two members of an emergency rescue crew who were able to give him a hand.

“One guy held the boat, and I helped my aunt and her dog from the house into the boat.”

Once Greer, his aunt, and her dog got to an embankment, the emergency rescuers returned the boat.

“He put it right back where it came from,” Greer says.

Before leaving town, Greer helped out two stranded drivers by giving them a tow with his truck.

“One guy was stuck in a driveway that was flooded. I towed him right to his house, and he gave me a jar of blueberry jam.”

Although Greer’s aunt is safe, the fate of her home is unclear.

“It’s not looking good. She didn’t get flood insurance, and she just bought it like two months ago. It’s a lot of damage — all those houses, I feel so bad for all those people,” Greer says.

It’s been a long couple of days for Princeton’s Mayor Spencer Coyne. Before his town flooded and Highway 5A closed, drivers being diverted by the closures of Highway 1 and the Coquihalla were being funneled through his town.

So he put in a volunteer shift directing traffic at the main intersection as it became overwhelmed with out-of-town traffic Sunday.

“It’s been a little chaotic. The rain didn’t let up yesterday. It started in the morning and just kept raining and raining,” he says.

By 2 p.m., he estimates the river was about three feet high, by 7 p.m. it was “up around 10 feet.” Just a couple of hours later, things were much worse.

“We started getting breaches in our dikes and it just kept coming,” he says, adding that the town has been flooded before.

“This one is way different. It’s way more water, faster than we’ve ever seen.”

Princeton is at the junction of two rivers, and Coyne says while they are keeping an eye on the Tulameen, there is worry there could be flooding from the Similkameen side as well. Volunteers have been working non-stop to set up sandbags.

Gas has been shut off for about 1,275 customers in town as a precaution and a boil water notice is in effect.

Coyne says he isn’t surprised to learn that Greer rescued his aunt and then stopped to help two strangers.

“One thing you’ve got to love about Princeton is we come together, especially in a time of crisis. The volunteers have been stepping up and filling sandbags and helping out wherever they need. Our fire department hasn’t rested. They’re a volunteer fire department, they’ve been nonstop since yesterday. The local Junior B hockey team is out filling sandbags and working almost 12-hour shifts helping. It’s unbelievable,” he says.

“When push comes to shove, Princeton always steps up for Princeton.”