More upgrades coming to improve Abbotsford flood resilience after 2021 disaster

The B.C. government is putting up nearly $80 million to upgrade Abbotsford’s Barrowtown Pump Station, in an effort to protect the Fraser Valley from future floods.

The funding comes a couple of years after the pump station was nearly overwhelmed in 2021 by atmospheric rivers that set off catastrophic flooding in the Sumas Prairie. 

Mayor Ross Siemens says $76.6 million from the province will take care of bolstering the current pump, adding to call this piece of equipment critical is an understatement.

“These improvements will significantly increase the resilience and protect this critical infrastructure. The flood wall alone means we won’t have to rely on volunteers in the middle of the night to sandbag to protect it,” Siemens said.

B.C.’s Emergency Management Ministry says upgrades to the pump station include a six-metre wall to help prevent the possibility of the station shutting down in another flood, and replacing pump motors to improve efficiency and pumping capacity.

Siemens says there is a more than $1 billion application sitting with the federal government for work to improving the current pump and add a new one.

That funding and work is still needed, he notes.

“We still need to move forward with the other two components of the urgent works plan — adding a Sumas River pump station or a habitat flood storage area,” the mayor said, adding, without those, vast areas of vital farmland and transportation corridors remain at risk.

The Abbotsford and surrounding area is a key bread basket for B.C., and Premier David Eby says the 2021 flooding on the Sumas Prairie could have been much worse had the pump station failed. 

The record rainfall in November 2021 flooded farms, killing thousands of animals and closed highways, and washed out Interior highways and prompted a mudslide that killed five people. 

Eby says upgrading the pump station will help better withstand potential floodwaters from the nearby Sumas and Nooksack rivers, and protect the region from future floods.

The ministry says B.C. has provided almost $180 million to support Abbotsford’s recovery since the 2021 disaster.