‘There’s nothing to stop it’: Abbotsford bracing for floodwater as Nooksack River overtops dike

Abbotsford’s mayor is warning people in his city to prepare for more flooding, as the Nooksack River overtopped its dike system Sunday afternoon.

“The land is super saturated. None of that water is going into the ground — that’s coming straight over like a surfer on top of the water that’s there. It’ll come here a lot faster than in the previous event,” he said, referring to the catastrophic flooding of the Sumas Prairie two weeks ago.

“Everybody that’s living on Sumas Prairie needs to have one eye open throughout the night,” Braun said.

He adds he’s confident crews have done all they could ahead of the next weather event and are as ready as they can be.

On Sunday night, members of the armed forces assisted crews as they set up a tiger dam on Highway 1 in Abbotsford, with heavy rain expected to hit the region again Tuesday.

The Canadian Armed Forces continue to assist with sandbagging efforts in Clayburn Village and the Village of Arnold — both of which have seen more flooding Sunday due to the relentless rain.

Many areas are still very vulnerable to the rising water despite the efforts of those on the ground.

A 'tiger dam' is being built on Highway One in Abbotsford, to help hold back the water coming from the Sumas River. The dam is made of water filled tubes and is being build with the help of RCMP/Police/CDN Military. More: https://t.co/QuzzNGO25M @CityNewsVAN pic.twitter.com/ul20VJqdE2

— Tarnjit Kaur Parmar (@Tarnjitkparmar) November 29, 2021

“We have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that our dikes, the Sumas River dikes, will hold all of that water that is about to arrive here in the next 24 hours.”

The city has been forced to close the floodgates between the Sumas River and Vedder River.

“When that rises above the level of the Sumas River, we have to close the floodgates. If we don’t close the floodgates, we are actually flooding the prairie from the Fraser River,” Braun said.

“It’s got to be lower on the Fraser River side before we can open up the floodgates to let the Sumas River out,” he explained. “When those floodgates are open, there’s 3.5 million gallons per minute going through that floodgate.”

On early Monday morning, the water levels at the Nooksack River in the U.S. had dropped slightly, but conditions are still unpredictable with another storm in the forecast.

“All of the upstream gages on that river have crested and are coming down. Many of them on the river are below flood stage, all good signs….it looks like we will see improvements through the day and trending towards the positive,” Kirby Cook with the National Weather Service said from Seattle Monday morning.

But Cook says we aren’t out of the woods yet, and they are preparing for another atmospheric river on Tuesday through to Wednesday.

“The good news is this event looks a bit weaker than the one we saw over the weekend…but it is following on the heels of this event over the weekend,” he said, adding, “it continues to be an area of concern.”

He says there is some sign of the rain clearing by the end of the week, and that would be crucial to bringing water levels down.

#NooksackRiver is now over the bank in #Everson and crossing Emerson rd. #wawx #flood #whatcomcounty pic.twitter.com/UVEZhLNWAB

— Randy Small – Whatcom County Weather (@RandySmall) November 28, 2021

More evacuations and orders

Residents have spent the last two weeks in the midst of an ever-changing situation.

On Sunday evening, an evacuation order was issued on Whatcom Road in Abbotsford due to a mudslide in the area. Some residents along Sandringham Drive have been put on evacuation alert.

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

In Whatcom County, the City of Sumas has sounded its flood alarm. Residents of that city were asked to voluntarily evacuate Saturday evening.

While the National Guard has been called in to fill and deploy sandbags in Whatcom County, Braun warned “sandbag walls are not going to stop the Nooksack.”

“The water is still continuing to work it’s way north. The water has not gone over Halverstick Road yet. That will be the next place it goes over. After that, we will watch for the water to start going around the bridge on Cherry Street. When that happens, we will use the flood siren once again. At that time, we will recommend everyone shelter in place,” according to the City of Sumas Facebook page on Monday morning. 

“Please do not panic, make any necessary preparations now. Life safety will continue to be our number one priority through this flood event,” the post reads.

Back in Canada, about 90 properties in Huntingdon Village were ordered to evacuate early Sunday morning.

“We ensured that everyone was given as much notice as we could by having emergency services crews going door to door advising residents of the order,” said Braun.

“While the flooding we are seeing today is not as significant as the first weather event two weeks ago, we are once again seeing localized flooding,” Braun said. “We remain extremely concerned about the coming weather events and the impact they will have on our flood situation.”

Drivers are being warned about the dangers of pooling water. Highway 1 between Abbotsford and Chilliwack closed at 5 p.m. Sunday.

“Many roads have pooling water which can easily pull your vehicle off the road if you drive through it too fast. Take it slow and please stay away from areas impacted by floodwaters to allow emergency services personnel quicker access,” Braun said.

Late this afternoon ⁦@AbbyPoliceDept⁩ escorted media to Boundary Rd. in Sumas Prairie to see how water was flooding in from the U.S. ⁦@CityNewsVAN⁩ pic.twitter.com/6UZ9hola2K

— Crystal Laderas (@CrisLaderas) November 29, 2021

With files from Martin MacMahon