Abbotsford ready for rain, says mayor, as B.C. braces for more storms

Communities in B.C. that are still dealing with flooding from last week’s atmospheric river are bracing themselves for what this storm could bring.

CityNews Meteorologist Michael Kuss says Thursday will bring heavy precipitation to many areas of the Lower Mainland.

Rain started off light in parts of Metro Vancouver, but Kuss says the Fraser Valley has already seen its fair share of downpours.

“It’s quite light around Vancouver out of the North Shore, we’re generally five to eight or nine millimetres for that part of Metro Vancouver. But in the Valley, it’s 10 to 15 plus millimetres already and we’re looking at a lot more through the day today,” he said at 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

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Read more:

• Storms headed for B.C. as province grapples with last week’s destructive weather

• Highway 1 between Chilliwack and Abbotsford expected to reopen Thursday

• Abbotsford mayor tells residents to get emergency kits, prepare for next round of rain

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Rain will continue to fall into the night before tapering off. Kuss says the region could see as much as 80 millimetres of rain throughout the storm.

While the forecast is dry for Friday, he points to a very saturated ground and strong winds as potential concerns. Another rainy day is expected Saturday.

The rain is not what some areas need right now, with flooding continuing to keep many people out of their homes in parts of Abbotsford.

Sandbagging stations are set up, ready to provide locals with what they need to mitigate any potential rising water levels.

Despite concerns, Abbotsford Mayor Henry Braun said Wednesday he believes his community can handle the coming system.

“For Thursday, Friday, the next one’s in on the weekend. It’s the third one I’m more concerned about but we don’t have enough data yet — that’s out there a ways,” he said.

Braun suggested his city is in better shape now than it was last week.

“If all that rain comes, I think we can still handle it. The dikes are where they are. The problem here that started is that the dike at the eastern end overtopped and ran over the dike for I don’t know how long, but enough to cause a breach.”

Though the rain could create some additional challenges, there are plans to reopen Highway 1 between Abbotsford and Chilliwack on Thursday. The major road has been closed for more than a week due to flooding.

Many people eager for the road to open were seen trying to access the highway Thursday morning, despite the closure still being in place.

Police urged people to wait for the reopening at home and not in traffic, saying it was possible people could be waiting all day.

Military taking tactical break in calm before the next B.C. storm

Meanwhile, Canadian Armed Forces members are having a day of much-needed rest after they were deployed to assist in B.C.’s flood response earlier this week.

More than 100 members have been joined by a platoon of reservists to sandbag, clean culverts, and even assist in evacuating barns in the hard-hit Sumas Prairie and surrounding Chilliwack and Abbotsford areas.

More troops are in Princeton to assist in the flood response in that community, but the boots on the ground in southern B.C. are waiting to see what impact Thursday’s rain storm will have.

Capt. Graeme Kaine with the Canadian Armed Forces says the next weather event could change where they head to next.

“Possibly in the next day or so we are looking at possible tasks in the Cultus Lake area,” he said Thursday morning.

B.C. is expected to see three weather events between Wednesday and Monday.

But as of 11:00 a.m. Thursday, the storm wasn’t packing too much of a punch — no where near the intensity of the storm B.C. saw between Nov. 13 – 15.

In case of more localized flooding – the military says it is standing by and 90 reservists from the 39 Canadian Brigade Group are coming.

“This is their community. These are individuals from Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Vancouver, Kamloops, Kelowna, we have armories all over British Columbia,” he said about the additional support from those who have volunteered to help in their own communities.

There have been no injuries in soldiers, but Kaine says the jobs are physically demanding, especially sandbagging for hours on end.

“It’s not the funnest to do it all day long. That’s why we need to give them a little bit of break because they’ve been going pretty hard the last couple of days,” he said.

And while there may be a temporary pause, the military are not going anywhere. He says there is no specific end date, and the soldiers will remain to help as long as they are needed.

-With files from Nikitha Martins and Reynaldo Suarez