Crews plan to sift through debris after dozens rescued on Highway 7

Close to 300 people who were trapped between two mudslides along Highway 7 were airlifted to safety Monday, and crews are soon expected to begin looking through the debris.

At this time, it remains unclear if anyone is still missing or if the search effort will become a recovery.

Canada Task Force 1 (CANTF1) information officer Jonathan Gormick says teams have been facing challenging conditions in this area. He admits there may be vehicles that are fully buried or that were “pushed over the edge towards the river or down the embankment into vegetation.”

CANTF1 will be leading the efforts to sift through the debris left behind after the mass evacuation effort that began Monday afternoon.

Gormick says crews will first be returning to conduct a recognizance flight with a geotechnical engineer to determine if it’s safe for people to work in.

If given the all clear, member of the Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Task Force and others will enter the slide area for a closer look.

He explains in total, there were actually three mudslides that trapped people along Lougheed Highway.

“[The third slide] didn’t impact any vehicles but it trapped people on the highway east of where we were but west of Hope,” he explained.

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These people trapped by the third slide were eventually able to get out after the province was able to clear the road, making access to Hope available late Monday night.

“Those people, I know it was a really frustrating day for them because information was coming in that they were going to be rescued by helicopter and no helicopters arrived and there were some pretty upset posts on social media,” Gormick told CityNews Tuesday.

“A longer wait, I understand, a frustrating day, but they also had the luxury of returning to Hope with their vehicles whereas the people we pulled out — I don’t know what the state of their vehicles is going to be when that road gets cleared but that’s a huge challenge for them.”

While these people were able to drive their vehicles back toward Hope, 275 others who were trapped between the two larger mudslides were not and needed to be air lifted out.

Those rescue efforts, which also saw about 50 children be rescued by helicopter, took several hours, with the last of the flights landing late in the afternoon Monday.

“Everyone’s out as of last night,” Gormick confirmed Tuesday.

Hearing from a woman who was among the people air lifted off #BCHWY7 today. She says she’s just happy to make it out. But it appears not everyone has the same story to tell, with reports that many others remain stranded. Full details on @CityNewsVAN
Erika Schiller pic.twitter.com/3znpFEKF7C

— Hana Mae Nassar (@HanaMaeNassar) November 16, 2021

He notes that on Sunday night, about 12 people were rescued by Agassiz Fire and Hope search and rescue members.

Once it’s determined it’s safe to do so, Gormick says crews will get to work to determine if there are any vehicles that may be trapped with people inside.

“Then the slow, painstaking process of pulling it apart with heavy machinery using canine search units and ground search teams to pick through it,” he said. “Of course, any time a dog indicates that they’ve found something or the machine contacts a vehicle, we’ll have to stop and manually extricate whatever it is.”

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Related article: 

• Metro Vancouver cut off from rest of B.C. due to major highway closures

• Dozens of people rescued after Lougheed Highway mudslides

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Specialized machine operators and Agassiz Fire members will be assisting with efforts, though Canada Task Force 1 will handle the actual search portion of the work.

And while conditions are not quite as wet as they have been, with a slight break in the rain, colder temperatures are now setting in across many parts of B.C., including this section of Highway 7.

“Cold, arctic air is now rushing in so daytime temperatures in places like Merritt, Princeton, over to Kamloops — they’re barely going to be above freezing. Eastern parts of the Fraser Valley too — mid, single digits for daytime highs,” explained Meteorologist Michael Kuss.

Gormick says teams don’t currently have any information as to whether any vehicles or people are known to be missing in the mudslide area.

People who would like to report a missing person can do so by contacting the RCMP non-emergency line.