Chilliwack man stranded for hours due to Lougheed closure west of Agassiz

Chilliwack is almost entirely cut off from the rest of the province as all major routes remain closed. Now, some people can’t get back home.

Jonathan Raabe, who lives in the city, says he was giving someone a ride to Mission along Lougheed Highway Tuesday afternoon.

When he was on his way back home, he found that crews had closed the major route at 7 p.m. He says he was told the highway was being declared unsafe for passage.

TRAVEL ADVISORY – Motorists are advised #BCHwy7 west of #Agassiz has a single lane open to emergency vehicles only.
Please avoid the area while work on restoring the highway for public access continues. https://t.co/y8JWPStplj#BCstorm #BCflood

— BC Transportation (@TranBC) November 17, 2021

“We waited five hours for a clear road and I guess I’m going to go pay for a hotel,” he told CityNews early Wednesday. ” I’m literally 15 minutes from home. I’m about five minutes west of Agassiz. Really the only road that’s open between Chilliwack and Abbotsford is this road and that is passable. And they have it closed down. There’s hundreds of cars here, they’re turning us all around now. I have nowhere to go.”

After ultimately deciding to sleep for a few hours in his car, Raabe was finally able to get through — nine hours later.

Lougheed Highway is only open to emergency crews for the time being. Pilot vehicles helped navigate some people out of the blockage, though it’s unclear if everyone has been able to get through.

“There were lots of transport trucks — those have all been pushed through,” Raabe said, wondering why those vehicles were given priority.

---

Related articles: 

• ‘Nothing is worth your life’: Abbotsford mayor pleads with people to evacuate Sumas Prairie

• B.C. could still declare state of emergency due to floods, mudslides: Farnworth

• Hundreds seek refuge in and around Hope as B.C. floods, mudslides cut off access

• Shoppers empty shelves in Fraser Valley grocery stores

---

According to an advisory posted online, a single lane is open along Lougheed Highway, west of Agassiz, strictly to emergency vehicles.

“The general public is asked to avoid the area while work on restoring the highway for public access continues,” the advisory reads.

The province is also urging people to avoid all travel to areas under evacuation orders and to avoid non-essential travel to areas currently under evacuation alert.

This is not the only road closure on the Lower Mainland impacting locals. Virtually all major highways in and out of Metro Vancouver have been shut down because of flooding, mudslides, or otherwise dangerous conditions.

Farther east from where Raabe was stuck, Highway 7 remains shut down after two major mudslides trapped dozens of people earlier this week. Dozens of people who were caught between those slides were air lifted to safety Monday, though that stretch, between Agassiz and Hope, remains closed.