Hope, Merritt, Princeton think they can weather the storm

It’s been an exhausting few weeks for several B.C. communities threatened by rising rivers and heavy rain.

But the mayors of Hope, Merritt, and Princeton say their communities are ready and are urging their residents to stay calm.

There's optimism as another atmospheric river hits BC. Mayors of Hope + Princeton tell me they're hopeful their communities can weather this storm, echoing comments made by Abbotsford's mayor yesterday. The feeling is efforts to bolster dikes/banks should be enough. @CityNewsVAN

— Monika Gul (@MonikaGul) November 30, 2021

Hope in Hope

Hope Mayor Peter Robb says his community and the surrounding area are monitoring the situation as it changes, but so far, they aren’t seeing massive impacts since the weekend.

That said, they are bracing for a shift. The regional district has placed several properties under an evacuation order, and at least one home has been evacuated within the city itself.

Many other residents are on evacuation alert and should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.

“The river went down a little bit last night again. We had about five hours without rain, which was good. We are still confident we put everything in place we need,” Robb said.

Read more: Third atmospheric river in a week brings more rain to already-drenched B.C.

“It’s definitely half the rainfall that we saw that’s coming, that’s predicted to come, than we had on the first event on the 14 and 15 of November,” he said, adding everyone learned lessons after that storm.

“I think that we are going to be fine this time,” he said about his cautious optimism.

He says most of the damage is outside the community and impacting travel in and out primarily due to the devastated highways.

“I think initially the community was quite anxious about having the highways closed and worried about food and fuel, but that was solved pretty quickly,” he said of those early days.

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He says the province has since communicated that Hope won’t be left behind and goods have since made it in.

“Our neighbours are in rougher shape than us. Princeton and Merritt, I just feel sorry for those communities with the amount of flooding they had. We came away quite lucky on this, it’s all around us but not within our community boundaries,” Robb said.

Princeton ready as it can be

Princeton was hard-hit two weeks ago, and the entire community has been waiting to see how much worse conditions can get.

One river going through it the community is on a flood warning, while the other river is on flood watch.

But Mayor Spencer Coyne also holding out hope that this storm won’t impact the town in a major way.

Flooding in Princeton, where residents are rushing to keep themselves and their belongings safe. Nov. 15. 2021. (Courtesy: Rhonda Viau-Caron)

“A bit apprehensive but I am optimistic at the same time. We had the Canadian Forces here until yesterday putting up sandbags and HESCO barriers and that has reinforced our feeling of optimism throughout this,” Coyne said.

HESCO flood barriers are military grade defenses which create a wall capable of halting debris-filled waters, they have been put in place to mitigate any potential future flooding this week.

3 days and about 50,000 sand bags later. My @3CdnDiv3DivCA soldiers did an incredible job reinforcing the #BCFloods defences in #PrincetonBC. An amazing job that any leader would be proud of. pic.twitter.com/nH1TqWgOBy

— Rob ???????????????? (@robhadds) November 28, 2021

He says local crews will continue to reinforce things wherever they can as the storm hits.

Merritt urging residents to stay calm

For some other people in flood-ravaged communities, the situation is nearing a breaking point.

Tensions have been high since a city-wide evacuation order was put in place on Nov. 15, as flood waters rendered the city’s wastewater treatment plant inoperable.

While some residents have been allowed to return, the recent storm has many concerned for their homes.

Merritt Mayor Linda Brown says it’s important for everyone to stay respectful and think of others during this stressful time.

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“Someone once said natural disasters are terrifying but what scares me is the human reaction to it and how people behave when rules of civility and society are obliterated. Let’s all work together to ensure we do not succumb to a loss of our decency,” Brown said Monday night in a video on the city’s website.

She says people should be kind when dealing with crews from all over the province who have come to help their community recover.

The City of Merritt is being helped by the Canadian Armed Forces in its flood response. (City of Merritt)

She’s also urging residents to be patient with those who have come from farther away.

The Canadian Armed Forces remain in place in the city to monitor the ever-changing situation.