‘I don’t want anybody to die’: Abbotsford mayor pleads with Arnold residents who refuse to leave

Abbotsford’s mayor is pleading with dozens of people ignoring evacuation orders in his city to leave right away. Sumas Prairie has been under an evacuation order for two weeks, ever since the first catastrophic storm came through the region, flooding many parts of the B.C. city.

The evacuation order includes the Arnold area, where the mayor says as many as 50 people in the small community are refusing to leave.

“They hunkered down for the first event and they’re hunkering down again,” Braun said, emphasizing the importance of those residents heeding the evacuation order.

“When the water comes across the border, it’s going to come from the from the south, where they live, and move north. They think it’s going to come in from the north side and go south. That’s not going to happen.”

Related video: Abbotsford braces for more flooding as Nooksack River overflows

The evacuation order in the area was issued after the first devastating storm two weeks ago. The mayor warned Sunday that everyone in the Sumas Prairie area “needs to have one eye open throughout the night.”

“I am concerned for some of them because this is uncharted territory for us,” Braun said. “We’ve never been in this position where we’ve had water in what was once a former lake. That hasn’t happened for 100 years. It took two years to pump that bowl out 100 years ago by the Army Corps of Engineers. These pumps are much bigger than they had in those days. They’re the largest drainage pumps in Western Canada.

“If one goes out, we can’t go buy one off the shelf. It probably takes a year to build a replacement pump. That is critical infrastructure. If we lose Barrowtown for any reason — whether Hydro goes off or the pumps burn up because they’ve been going for two weeks full bore 24/7 — that lake will refill and it will cover Highway 1 with probably eight feet of water. It’ll bury the Barrowtown pumps and that freeway will be underwater for a year.”

Northwest of the Arnold evacuation, more residents were told to leave Sunday night due to a mudslide.

An evacuation order was issued Sunday for residents in the Whatcom Road area near Lower Sumas Mountain Park.

EVACUATION ORDER: Issued for 2842 Whatcom Road Units 12,13,14,15,16,17,18 due to a mudslide in the area. Some residents along Sandringham Drive have been put on evacuation alert. See attached map for details pic.twitter.com/Htn59aZPQo

— Abbotsford Police Department (@AbbyPoliceDept) November 29, 2021

Related articles:

• Highway 1 between Abbotsford and Chilliwack closed again due to flooding

• ‘There’s nothing to stop it’: Abbotsford braces for more flooding as Nooksack levels rise

• Abbotsford remains on ‘high alert,’ more evacuations ordered due to flooding

Highway 1 between Abbotsford and Chilliwack was closed again Sunday, just three days after it reopened following an 11-day closure from the first storm.

The concern is if conditions worsen, people in Arnold will no longer be able to get out and a rescue operation will be required.

Braun says while they won’t be arresting people for ignoring the evacuation order, that order is in place to save lives.

“I just don’t want anybody to die,” he said.

“We’re not going to go arrest people. They’re adults. We have not had any fatalities or deaths so far. And I hope at the end of this, which looks like it might be next week Thursday, I want to keep it that way. These aren’t suggestions, these are orders and people should leave.”

Related video: Clayburn Creek water levels in Abbotsford (Courtesy: Wes Shaw)

He admits people in that area are used to floods happening, but this situation is different.

“We get some water that comes over every three or four years. I think some of them just said, ‘Well, yeah, this is just another one of those events. It’s not serious.’ But it is serious because there’s water in the lake bed, which we’ve never had for 100 years. This is different. It’s complex and complicated to unpack for some people who maybe don’t understand.”

A Do Not Use Water Advisory is also in effect for Sumas Prairie.

Water from that system should not be used for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, washing food, making ice, making infant formula, washing dishes, or bathing. Only bottled water or water from an unaffected system should be consumed.