What the B.C. government knew about the flood threat | Come hell... B.C. under water

Summary

The Fifth Estate investigates the catastrophic floods in British Columbia, highlighting the impact of climate change on severe weather events. The script reveals inadequate preparation and a failure to heed warnings, resulting in devastating floods that overwhelmed infrastructure and communities. It questions the government's response and the need for better planning to address the new reality of climate-induced disasters.

Takeaways

• 🌧️ Catastrophic floods in British Columbia highlight the impacts of climate change.
• 🚨 Communities were cut off, with lives and properties at risk.
• 🌍 BC's infrastructure is outdated and not designed for current climate conditions.
• ⚠️ Warnings about extreme weather were ignored or downplayed by authorities.
• 🌊 An atmospheric river caused unprecedented rainfall, leading to severe flooding.
• 📉 The province's flood risk governance system is criticized as broken and underfunded.
• 💔 Many residents felt abandoned and unsupported by local and provincial governments.
• 💧 Logging and wildfires have exacerbated flood risks by weakening soil and reducing tree cover.
• 💡 Experts and community leaders call for better planning and infrastructure investments to mitigate future risks.
• 🆘 Emotional and economic impacts on residents and farmers were devastating, with many homes and livelihoods destroyed.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the 'Fifth Estate' edition featuring Mark Kelly?

The main focus is the catastrophic floods in British Columbia, Canada, and how communities are bearing the brunt of climate change, with infrastructure failing to cope with extreme weather events.

What type of natural disaster was British Columbia experiencing due to the changing climate?

British Columbia was experiencing heavy rains, strong winds, and flooding that devastated entire communities, highlighting the impact of climate change on increasing the intensity and frequency of atmospheric rivers.

What is an 'atmospheric river' and how is it related to climate change?

An atmospheric river is a band of moisture hundreds of kilometers long that can supply rain and snow. Climate change is projected to make these atmospheric rivers more frequent, longer-lasting, and more intense due to the increased water vapor that warmer air can hold.

What were the early warnings of the severe weather event that hit British Columbia?

Early warnings included a snow warning issued by Environment Canada, a major flood stage event warning by the U.S. National Weather Service for northern Washington, and observations of an atmospheric river building over the Pacific Ocean.

How did the Fraser Valley, a region in British Columbia, respond to the flood threat?

The Fraser Valley relies on a series of dikes and pump stations to hold back flood waters. During the disaster, volunteers helped protect a critical pump house by piling up sandbags to prevent the Fraser River from flooding the Sumas Prairie.

What role did social media play in alerting residents about the flood?

Social media, specifically Facebook, played a significant role as it was used by a BC MLA to send out a warning about the flood after air raid sirens were heard across the border in Sumas, Washington.

What was the impact of the floods on the agricultural community in the Fraser Valley?

The floods had a devastating impact on the agricultural community, with farms being underwater, livestock lost, and livelihoods disrupted in one of Canada's most productive agricultural regions.

What historical event from the past is mentioned that highlights the vulnerability of the Fraser Valley to flooding?

The script mentions the flooding of the Fraser Valley in 1948, which resulted in a third of the valley being under water and thousands of people having to be evacuated.

What is the role of the provincial government in managing flood risks and infrastructure in British Columbia?

The provincial government sets the standards for dike safety but has transferred the responsibility for paying for upgrades and maintenance to local communities, which often lack the financial capacity to manage such large-scale infrastructure projects.

What were the recommendations made by Tamsina Lyle in her report for the BC government regarding flood risk governance?

Tamsina Lyle recommended that the province take some authority back and better fund flood risk governance. She highlighted that the system was broken and that there was a need for stronger action and investment in dike infrastructure.

What are the long-term implications of the flooding for the affected communities in British Columbia?

The long-term implications include displacement of residents, loss of livestock, economic damage, and the potential for increased frequency of such events due to climate change. There is also the challenge of rebuilding and adapting to a new reality where extreme weather events are more common.

Outlines

00:00

🌪️ Catastrophic Floods in British Columbia

The script begins with Mark Kelly discussing the devastating floods in British Columbia, highlighting the fear and destruction caused by the natural disaster. It emphasizes the impact of climate change, which has led to more frequent and severe weather events, including atmospheric rivers. The narrative points out the lack of preparedness and the repeated ignoring of warnings, suggesting that the disaster was predictable and potentially preventable. The script also mentions the unusual weather events leading up to the floods, such as a rare tornado and the failure of infrastructure designed for a past climate.

05:01

🌊 The Aftermath of the Atmospheric River

This paragraph delves into the aftermath of the atmospheric river that hit British Columbia, causing widespread flooding and landslides. It discusses the challenges faced by communities, such as being cut off from essential supplies and the difficulty of predicting weather more than a week in advance. The script introduces Catherine Heinho, a climatologist, who explains how warmer air holds more water vapor, leading to more intense storms. The paragraph also describes the Fraser Valley's vulnerability due to its flat agricultural lands, surrounded by mountains and reliant on dikes and pump stations to prevent flooding.

10:02

🚨 Inadequate Warning Systems and Government Response

The script criticizes the warning systems and government response to the floods, detailing how initial alerts came from social media rather than official channels. It recounts personal experiences of residents who felt abandoned by the government during their time of need. The narrative also explores the patchwork of local and regional alert systems in British Columbia, the lack of a centralized system, and the resulting confusion and frustration among the affected communities.

15:03

🏚️ The Human Cost of Climate-Driven Disasters

This paragraph focuses on the human cost of the flooding, with residents expressing their frustration and sense of abandonment by the government. It discusses the emotional impact of losing homes and livelihoods, the lack of preparedness, and the failure to act on known risks. The script also touches on the broader implications of climate change, such as the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and the need for better planning and governance to prevent future disasters.

20:04

🌳 The Role of Deforestation and Climate Change

The script examines the role of deforestation, logging, and climate change in exacerbating the flooding and landslides. It discusses how the removal of trees has weakened the soil, making it more susceptible to erosion and landslides. The paragraph also highlights the importance of old-growth forests in preventing such natural disasters and calls for a collaborative approach between the government and First Nations to address these issues.

25:05

🛠️ The Failure to Address Known Flood Risks

This paragraph discusses the known risks of flooding in British Columbia and the failure to address them adequately. It mentions various reports and studies that have warned about the inadequacy of the diking system and the need for updates and repairs. The script also points out the financial burden on local governments to fund these necessary improvements and the lack of support from higher levels of government.

30:07

🏚️ The Long-Term Impact and Recovery Efforts

The script addresses the long-term impact of the floods on affected communities and the challenges of recovery. It highlights the emotional toll on residents who have lost their homes and the uncertainty of when, or if, they will be able to return. The paragraph also touches on the broader implications of climate change and the need for governments to act decisively to prevent such disasters in the future.

35:08

🌊 The Ongoing Struggle with Floodwaters and Infrastructure

This paragraph continues the discussion on the struggle with floodwaters and the aging infrastructure designed to contain them. It describes the efforts to protect the Sumas dike and the challenges faced by local officials in managing the crisis. The script also raises questions about the authorities' knowledge of the flood threat and their responsibility in ensuring the dikes could withstand such a test.

40:09

📊 The Political and Financial Challenges of Flood Prevention

The script delves into the political and financial challenges of flood prevention in British Columbia. It discusses the distribution of responsibility between different levels of government and the difficulty of securing the necessary funds for dike maintenance and upgrades. The paragraph also highlights the ongoing tension between the need for flood prevention and the financial constraints faced by local communities.

🌊 The Recurring Threat of Floods and the Need for Change

In the final paragraph, the script reflects on the recurring threat of floods and the urgent need for change in how governments and communities approach climate change and disaster preparedness. It emphasizes the emotional impact on residents who have been displaced by the floods and the collective responsibility to address the root causes of such disasters, including deforestation and inadequate infrastructure.

Keywords

💡Catastrophic floods

Catastrophic floods refer to extreme and devastating flooding events that cause significant damage to communities, infrastructure, and the environment. In the video, the term highlights the severity of the floods in British Columbia, which have cut off communities and put lives at risk. Examples from the script include the destruction of roads and bridges and the inundation of entire communities.

💡Atmospheric river

An atmospheric river is a narrow corridor of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere that can transport large amounts of water vapor across great distances. The video describes how an intense atmospheric river led to heavy rainfall and subsequent flooding in British Columbia. This phenomenon is linked to climate change, which is expected to increase the frequency and intensity of such events.

💡Climate change

Climate change refers to long-term shifts and alterations in temperature and weather patterns, primarily due to human activities like burning fossil fuels. The video connects climate change to the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as the floods in British Columbia. Examples include the projection that atmospheric rivers will become more intense and the increased precipitation experienced in the region.

💡Dikes and pump stations

Dikes and pump stations are structures designed to prevent flooding by holding back water and pumping it out of low-lying areas. The video discusses the reliance of the Fraser Valley on these structures and how their failure contributed to the widespread flooding. The breach of the Sumas River dike and the near-failure of a pump station in Abbotsford are specific examples mentioned.

💡Evacuation

Evacuation is the process of moving people from a dangerous area to safety. The video describes multiple instances of evacuation in response to the flooding, including the entire community of Merritt and residents of the Sumas Prairie. These evacuations highlight the urgent and life-threatening nature of the flooding event.

💡Infrastructure

Infrastructure refers to the fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, including transportation, communication, sewage, water, and electric systems. The video emphasizes how British Columbia's infrastructure, built for past climate conditions, is now inadequate to handle extreme weather events. Examples include the washed-away roads and bridges and the overwhelmed sewage systems.

💡Emergency response

Emergency response involves the immediate reaction to a disaster to protect lives and property. The video criticizes the delayed and inadequate emergency response to the floods, including the lack of centralized alert systems and the reliance on volunteers. The confusion and frustration of residents who felt abandoned underscore the need for better preparedness and coordination.

💡Natural disaster

A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions. The floods in British Columbia are presented as a natural disaster exacerbated by climate change and human factors like deforestation and inadequate infrastructure. The video documents the extensive damage and human suffering caused by this disaster.

💡Government accountability

Government accountability refers to the obligation of government officials to be answerable for their actions and decisions. The video scrutinizes the British Columbia government's handling of flood risk management and emergency response, highlighting systemic issues and ignored warnings. Examples include the downplaying of threats by the Ministry of Forests and the mayor of Abbotsford's decision not to activate a city-wide alert.

💡Community resilience

Community resilience is the ability of a community to recover from disasters and adapt to future risks. The video showcases the resilience of British Columbians in the face of catastrophic floods, such as volunteers protecting the Barrowtown pump station and residents helping each other. Despite the failures of official systems, the community's efforts highlight the importance of solidarity and preparedness.

Highlights

Catastrophic floods in British Columbia have caused immense damage, highlighting the impact of climate change on extreme weather events.

Communities were cut off and lives were at risk due to the severe flooding, emphasizing the urgent need for climate adaptation measures.

Infrastructure in British Columbia was designed for past climate conditions, making it inadequate for current extreme weather patterns.

Despite warnings, the potential for such a disaster has been ignored, leading to a preventable catastrophe.

Atmospheric rivers are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change, increasing the risk of severe flooding.

Environment Canada and the U.S. National Weather Service issued warnings, but the response was slow and inadequate.

The Fraser Valley, a critical agricultural region, is particularly vulnerable to flooding due to its geography and aging dike system.

Volunteers played a crucial role in protecting infrastructure, such as the Sumas Prairie pump house, from failing during the floods.

Evacuation orders and warnings were not centralized, leading to confusion and a lack of preparedness among residents.

The provincial government's responsibility for flood risk governance has been criticized as being 'broken' and in need of reform.

Logging and land development have contributed to soil erosion and increased the risk of landslides during heavy rainfall.

Indigenous communities have been advocating for sustainable land management practices to mitigate climate change impacts.

The aftermath of the floods will take years to recover from, with long-term impacts on affected communities and infrastructure.

There is a need for a coordinated approach between different levels of government to address the increasing flood risks.

The Sumas dike breach highlights the urgent need for investment in upgrading and maintaining flood protection infrastructure.

Reports have warned about the inadequacy of flood defenses for years, but these warnings have been largely ignored.

The human cost of the climate crisis is significant, with many people losing their homes and livelihoods due to the floods.

Communities are calling for immediate action and better planning to prevent future disasters and protect lives.

Transcripts

i'm mark kelly on this edition of the

fifth estate

catastrophic floods we are just next to

the river i'm so scared communities cut

off

lives on the line

there was nothing we could do for the

people that you knew were alive under

the mud

british columbia is a province that's

bearing the brunt of a changing climate

the last few days have been incredibly

difficult

for british columbians heavy rains

strong winds

flooding have devastated entire

communities of our province there was

really nowhere you could go our

infrastructure is built for a planet

that no longer exists we design and

build our infrastructure based on the

climate of the past

yet our investigation shows warnings

have been ignored time and time again i

think it was preventable and it was

predictable

making this a disaster just waiting to

happen what our response shows is that

for governments experience has become

making the same mistake over and over

again but with greater confidence

and there's one question that keeps

coming up it's all gone

shouldn't we have seen this coming

[Music]

here in beautiful bc there were signs

this wasn't going to be a normal fall

almost three weeks before the floods hit

we've seen some pretty big storms and

nothing

like this at all

a low pressure weather bomb pounded

vancouver island and bc south coast

knocking out power in 9 000 homes

then two weeks later a rare tornado

touched down at the university of

british columbia

just outside vancouver and near the

airport

stunning experienced meteorologists

it sure had our collective jaws on the

ground when we saw a tornado off of yvr

you know something that we've never seen

before

but something bigger something more

severe was building over the pacific

ocean

seeing upwards of 20 millimeters an hour

it's fairly normal but seeing three or

four hours like that is really a head

scratcher

what's called an atmospheric river was

heading inland

these rivers in the sky are bands of

moisture hundreds of kilometers long

many harmlessly supply needed rain and

snow but this one was something worse

what's incredible and maybe terrifying

to think about is that climate change

actually

projects atmospheric rivers to not only

get more frequent uh not only to last

longer but also to get more intense

[Music]

so if climate change is signaling more

extreme weather events

why weren't we better prepared for this

one

on november 9 4 days before the storm

struck

environment canada issued a snow warning

up to 25 centimeters for the bc interior

[Music]

okay that's an airy sound

two days later the u.s national weather

service started escalating warnings for

northern washington calling for a major

flood stage event

and that residents should be prepared to

take action and informing them where to

get sandbags we definitely saw an

atmospheric river coming

we saw it build throughout the week it

really looked like it was going to be

hitting the coast

and moving south and actually really

focused on washington state we see that

we said to ourselves okay that's

impressive but so far it's not affecting

our jurisdiction

on november 13th the storm changed path

barreling towards bc

environment canada revised its forecast

calling for up to 150 millimeters of

rain

but bc's ministry of forests downplayed

the threat

rivers are expected to rise rapidly

sunday and ease on monday as the

heaviest rainfall passes

november 14th this is what was heard

twice across the border on the american

side

a flood alarm telling residents to brace

for high waters move livestock to higher

ground

hi this is bruce bamman i was notified

not that long ago that the air raid

sirens in sumas washington are going off

the alarm was heard by some on the

canadian side of the border

prompting this bc mla to send out a

warning of his own on facebook

in the past what that has meant is that

the nook sack has flooded

uh has breached its banks and that the

flood waters are on the way to sumas

look after yourselves be be careful

then later that day

the atmospheric river hit disaster

quickly followed roads and bridges swept

away communities swallowed up by the

rising waters

in the bc interior landslides left

entire communities cut off from supplies

medicine food and help

you can't predict what the weather is

going to be like more than a week or so

into the future

but we absolutely can say that the

statistics of weather are changing

catherine heiho is a world renowned

climatologist originally from toronto

now based in texas

we know that these naturally occurring

atmospheric rivers are getting more

intense and they're dropping a lot more

rain in a warmer world

simply because warmer air holds more

water vapor and so now when a storm

comes along there's a lot more water

vapor in the air for that storm to sweep

up and dump on us than there was 50 or

100 years ago

ever since the middle of september we

have been dealing with extraordinarily

active weather generally speaking you

know we're talking about over 200

percent of normal precipitation

including five atmospheric rivers three

bomb cyclones a tornado and who knows

what else before 2021 is over

no area may be more vulnerable in bc

than here in the fraser valley a short

drive east from vancouver

flat agricultural lands surrounded by

mountains and at the mercy of the

temperamental fraser river

the region relies on a series of dikes

and pump stations to hold back seasonal

flood waters everybody stopped by that

flashing light please

this pump house normally keeps the

fraser river out of the sumas prairie

this storm pushed it to the brink of

failing

if not for 200 volunteers who showed up

to protect it by piling up walls of

sandbags trying to turn back a climate

catastrophe earlier this morning we

expanded the su mass prairie evacuation

order approximately 1 100 homes are now

impacted

i was watching what the river forecast

center was saying

and you know there's that pit in your

stomach where you're thinking is this

the moment where i get to say i told you

so we know they're our atmosphere rivers

and we've known for a long time that

this was going to be a big concern for

winter flooding in bc and as someone who

pays attention to this

you could see it coming

tamsen lyle is an engineer who helps

communities reduce their flood risks she

went to survey the damage a week after

the storm hit okay here we go

so right now we're seeing

into the united states this is the old

sumath lake bed right below us right now

we have the sumats river which used to

be a natural

river that would drain this area

it doesn't anymore it's now a dike

system

so flowing out that way

the su mass river that's flowing out

through the pump station

into the fraser river

and right under us right now

is what used to be a lake and it is a

lake again and it's thousands of

people's homes

and animals one of the most productive

agricultural regions in all of canada is

right under our

[Music]

now those farms were underwater

along with their livestock and their

livelihoods

[Music]

a century ago the prairie was a lake

drained to make way for these farms

it didn't take long for nature to try to

reclaim the lake bed

in 1948 a third of the fraser valley sat

under murky black water thousands had to

be evacuated the valley has occasionally

flooded since leading many to wonder if

all the measures to hold back the waters

are enough

my husband was up all night because we

knew there was a alert

by six o'clock and looked outside and it

was like we're in the middle of a lake

some like this family have and kabir and

narinder felt utterly abandoned in their

time of need

i quickly ran to the front of the house

and i could see that there was a puddle

at the front of the house where we had

brought our dogs in and we just covered

it with a towel but with like an hour

hour and a half it was like a foot of

water in our house

they called search and rescue no one

came and then i had to call them again

because from our house ours wasn't a

priority because we were on the upper

level and we were safe but from our

house we could actually see that the

dike was breaking

so that's when we were panicking we're

like you need to like we need to get out

of here now because the deck is going to

break and then it's going to flood a lot

more

strangers in boats brought them back

home to save what they could i think the

community is coming together like how

they sandbag the barrow town pump

how we know there's people stranded in

hope and people are getting the meals

even here like there's sometimes

there'll be people standing here with

both just in case somebody needs help

but it's just civilians it's not like

a government agency that's providing any

of that help

the first warnings came not from the

province not from the town

the actual alert was from facebook

really and i could see where the

evacuation area is and right before bed

they were like okay now they're gonna

put an alert on so

they extended the area so they put

everything in yellow like alert that

this area is now on alert and then the

next morning is when they put it all in

evacuation but it was already like we

were already in water

there are warning systems in place in bc

just not centralized it's a patchwork of

local and regional alert systems

triggered at the discretion of local

authorities the province has been in

continual contact with local governments

and we're working to support those

affected

local governments are monitoring the

situation their communities and standing

up emergency operation centers as needed

andrew nikophoric is a journalist

covering environmental issues you know i

mean the first response from the british

columbia government is that

we're not responsible for

informing people of a of a looming

disaster that that's all up to

municipalities so i mean lack of

accountability is a is a symptom of a

of a system in real trouble

so responsibilities are downloaded to

people like abbotsford mayor henry braun

who chose not to sound the alarm and i

want to be very clear here it was our

decision not to activate the provincial

alert ready

system for the whole city of 162 000

people

at that time so we didn't want to alarm

the whole city

mayor braun bristled at any suggestion

he didn't act soon enough

if you're asking me would i do it again

the same way yes i would

everybody in the prairie knew that there

was an emergency the prairie was flooded

there's no sense sending an alert out

that's going to scare

162 000 people which is what the

population of abbotsford is

the three or 400 people that were out

there at that time

they already knew there there was an

emergency all they had to do was look in

their look outside the window of their

house the water was everywhere

i think there's a lot of different

people that have to take ownership of

ownership of this problem when we're

looking at this this kind of scale i

mean i think

the province especially the province of

about 20 years ago 2003 2004 has a lot

to answer for in terms of

downloading the responsibility

from the province who had the better

capacity to

look at this at a regional scale

to local governments who are now you

know

don't have the capacity don't have the

expertise

downloading responsibility lack of

expertise can have catastrophic

consequences in other parts of bc as

well

it's very sad

coming up after the break you know when

we try to speak with the provincial

government on logging

i feel that we're

we're talking to the wall because they

don't listen

we need to plan together because if we

don't

more catastrophic events like this are

going to occur annually

we need to be heard

look at this bridge

it has nothing left

as the mammoth atmospheric river moved

eastward from the fraser valley to the

bc interior

it left a trail of damage

a trail of death it was the scariest

thing i've ever seen i just turned

around and i'm just watching

the whole side of the mountain we come

down

and taking out these cars and this

everything just being swept away it hit

our back wall in our bedroom there and

literally

knocked us literally onto our feet

and we were in

two feet of water like a freight train

growing to your middle of your house

that would have been about the way it

was it took

35 seconds to get our house full of mud

and dirt

bc's coroner's office would later

confirm five dead in the mudslides

lives lost along this stretch of highway

near lillowitz

the mud washed away highways railroads

and bridges leaving people stranded in

their cars awaiting rescue

i'm so scared

because we are just next to the river

and under the hill

cars were driving up and down up and

down

the entire community of merit population

7 000 was told to leave

we're on the evacuation alert or

actually being evacuated right now

heartbreaking it was heartbreaking

because you can't do anything about it

didn't expect this nobody expected this

many climate refugees ended up an hour's

drive away in kamloops

this is my property here

this was on the first day

cassidy sabjak watched the waters claim

her home there was water basically i

lived in a colander like water was

coming in the basement windows it was

coming in the front door it was coming

in the back door um it completely filled

my basement

she fled in her pajamas and sandals

what you see in here is what we have

basically right now like we basically

got away with the clothes on our bags

yeah it was awful we started to see that

it started to erode underneath our house

so we grabbed what we could at the

moment and yeah we got out the front

part that faced the river

the floor went

so i entered the house stupidly and then

a big crack

gone just

gone

it went under

it just the river just took it under and

gone

within seconds

as people fled merit mayor linda brown

was heading back to her community i got

a call as i was driving up the highway

and we knew the rains were coming and

they were coming hard we were driving

through rivers of rain on our way home

shortly after that the highways were

closed but by the time i got home to

merit my staff had phoned me and said

we're looking at the charts this was a

sunday afternoon we're looking at

the charts and there's something wrong

here we don't know what it is but we

have to

let you know that there may be something

happening

by the time the early evening arrived

they knew that something catastrophic is

going to happen but they had absolutely

no idea of how big it was going to be

the bc rivers forecast center issued a

warning uh late on sunday afternoon when

they noted that there was going to be a

lot of water flowing down the cold water

and that this had the potential for

flooding in the merit area greg lois is

merits information officer we had no

idea that it was going to be like this

when uh we were watching the gauges that

show the river levels down the cold

water and when the gauges further up the

valley started showing that they were

rising dramatically we assembled the

emergency operations center

floodwaters were bearing down on vital

city infrastructure

forcing officials to make tough choices

and so we then began considering whether

or not it would be possible to run a

city without our sewage infrastructure

and we knew that was when we would have

to evacuate absolutely everybody

we realized that we were going to be

dealing with something new it had never

dealt with before

those gauges measuring water volume in

the cold water river were the only

warning the city got about the magnitude

of the flood

they didn't get any phone calls this was

because of their diligence in looking at

websites and and what was happening just

based on a gut feeling of how much rain

we're getting

and if it weren't for the efforts of

staff

it could have been a bigger disaster by

midnight we had people knocking on doors

and we had people evacuating before the

big flood hit and

that credit goes entirely to staff

and i admire them for that

the rain water was coming right down the

middle of the road

lower mcphail

like i

to me i doubt it if there's even a road

there anymore

because that was three o'clock sunday

afternoon

and all the culverts up there were

maximum capacity

the creeks were overwhelmed they were

flooded over

lee spehan is chief of the coldwater

indian band 15 kilometers south of merit

and one of three indigenous communities

that issued their own evacuations the

flooding of the river like

all that all that ground over there was

all under water

it washed

washed away the access to the road

the water breached both sides of the

bank so the

i'm i'm shocked that they still have

hydro with the trees that are there it

actually saved uh

probably the house from being washed

away

the two homes there they were

probably under water by about between

two and three feet of water

and if coldwater's neighbor merit felt

isolated and alone through this chief

behan says his community fared even

worse

no no alerts or nothing

to find out that

they were evacuating the city of merit

everybody was

was in in shock because

you know really this is happening this

fast but a lot of people were pretty

upset and frustrated because of the

the lack of response from from the city

but but also from the provincial

government because there was absolute no

warning i'm tired i feel uh burnt out

but

you know

just to try to make sure that

our members are safe and that they're

fed

that's uh the biggest worry to make sure

that they're safe

[Applause]

there's an awful lot of homes that are

destroyed

some of them will never be able to

recover from that others they may be

able to fix

but these are people that are losing

their livelihood and losing their homes

it didn't take long for that loss

coupled with a sense of abandonment to

turn into seething frustration i don't

think any of us are getting what we need

right now i think that maybe if the

government could step up and help these

people out it'd be really nice lots of

us are out here and we don't need to be

everybody out here is freezing cold

we're standing out here we've been

standing here for two and a half hours

so

maybe maybe trudeau should come and

stand out here for a while

see what it's like

like after the fire season where you

evacuated everyone to the same place

should you not have somewhat of a plan

of how this works or how it should go

what's your message to the government oh

get it together

like this is ridiculous

there are people suffering who cannot

help themselves

like

it's sad it's so sad

call it disaster fatigue these same

residents were put on evacuation alert

in august the threat then wildfires

ironically it was rain that helped spare

merit but the fire damage around the

city compounded the flood damage to the

city

well because there were a lot of fires

in the region over the summer and a lot

of the hills and trees have been burned

there is nothing to hold the water back

and we had rain for days and days on end

and that rain just came down and

it all ended up in the river and the

river just did its thing and it it was

nasty and

this catastrophe is a result of both the

fires and the flooding of the cold water

these are satellite images over the last

35 years showing the disappearing tree

canopy around merit extensive logging

fires extreme heat even a pine beetle

infestation have led to the weakening of

the soil leading to the landslides

anyone who's familiar with with the

interior of bc and uh

and how narrow the passes are how narrow

the rivers are

um how extensive the logging has been

over

the last 100 years and then you you know

then you introduce something like

climate change which changes the whole

hydrology the whole water regime

and yeah you're going to have trouble

big trouble

in bc they've already been talking about

let's why are we logging old growth

forests you know what when we have trees

those trees keep the soil anchored

prevent landslides they're a lot

healthier and more resilient when forest

fires come along and they soak up the

water when we get the heavy rainfall and

they take up carbon too

we've been putting pressure on the

provincial government about the logging

but they need to

sit down at the table

with first nations leadership to make

that happen

because they need our knowledge

so that way we can work collaboratively

to make it work

because we we all live in this world

but when you're only looking at it

one-sided

it never works

you look down at an individual farm and

realize that the barn is

up to its rafters

it's horrible

when we come back it's one of my

proudest moments is that i kept that

line in that report

where i said flood risk governance was

broken and we were asked to tone the

language down and i

didn't

[Applause]

there are so many ways to measure the

impact of the catastrophic flooding in

bc the number of people displaced the

number of livestock that perished the

cost of the cleanup but a helicopter

ride over the area near abbotsford says

it all

lyle has studied the sumas prairie basin

for 20 years

it's so beautiful

and you look down at the individual farm

and realize that the barn is

up to its rafters

knows what's on the inside of it

it's horrible

for more than a century there's been

extensive diking pumping and planning to

try to keep the water away but last week

those protections failed and the lake

returned

all it took was flood water to spill

over the aging sumas river dike next to

highway one which links bc to the rest

of canada so here's the breach right

below

us it's a big breach

we've known about these problems in fact

one of my colleagues this morning said

the su mass area is one of the most

studied flood problems in all of canada

and yet we still didn't do anything

better

and for those living next to it the

sumas dike would unleash chaos in the

basin below

narendra is taking salvina outside

remember kabir having a nurinder they

were left to grab whatever they could as

flood waters were rising in their home

by the minute

so the whole bottom floor all the floor

is like ripped out there's like at least

like a foot and a half of water the

sofas are floating around

and narinder cedar farm

gone my tractor is all under water atv

side by side

my welders my truck loaded with the

trees

but could all of this have been

prevented that's a question people are

starting to ask there's water in the

truck now i think knowing that this is a

lake bed that this was a lake before

maybe they need to be more prepared like

i think the climate's changing the

weather is getting warmer we're getting

more forest fires and we're going to get

more flooding

so what did the authorities know about

the looming threat of a flood and who

was supposed to make sure these dikes

could withstand the test in british

columbia those are complicated questions

and a political hot potato

to do that we have to stop the water

from coming

all the way here each day brought a new

crisis for abbotsford mayor henry braun

but he's worried about the long-term

impact

this is enormous

and the aftermath

i don't think we fully appreciate yet

the devastation and how long it's going

to take to recover

i think that's going to be years

the challenge of keeping these waters at

bay has been a concern for years

this vast area of farmland stretches

across a patchwork of local provincial

federal and international jurisdictions

this big straight highway is the border

just south of the sumas basin is the u.s

border and another source of tension the

nuksac river is located in washington

state but when it overflows that water

heads north flowing downhill across the

border and towards the sumas basin

in 1990 that's exactly what happened

destroying homes and causing millions in

damage

the danger of flood waters from the u.s

has preoccupied mares from abbotsford

for decades

and there was a commission a transporter

commission between canada the united

states and they did all sorts of

wonderful things and came up with study

but out of that really has come nothing

we all knew this was a problem the city

itself has done studies

recent studies

imploring

federal or senior levels of government

to do something about it

[Music]

flood waters from the u.s are one thing

but it's the threat within bc that has

communities across the lower mainland

really worried they're at the mercy of

an aging series of dikes

this whole region has been largely

re-engineered by man a complicated

intricate weave of 600 kilometers of

dikes and levees designed to harness

nature and hold back rivers from taking

back the land but it doesn't always work

this report in 2015 found the sumas

river dike was presently too low

substandard and likely needs to be

updated

we knew that the sumas dike was low

or it shouldn't be it shouldn't be at

that level or it should be raised

but local government doesn't have the

financial wherewithal because we only

collect property taxes and we can't

build for our dikes

the the impact on our dikes if we have

to build them to the

standards of the senior levels of

government is a 400 million dollar bill

two years ago

this isn't just peculiar to abbotsford

this is peculiar to our neighbors in

chilliwack and agassi and kent and hope

township of langley downstream

um

i i would say in a few words uh money

this this is a big bill

we've warned

for years

and for throughout my term

we have not been investing in our

infrastructure at every level

for decades

and this is what happens when you ignore

warnings

on the other side of the sumas basin is

chilliwack 30 kilometers from abbotsford

for days it was cut off from the rest of

the country store shelves were empty

thousands of homes evacuated

we've got you can see how many different

major water bodies jason lum is chair of

the fraser valley regional district

this is the most serious

emergency

in

my time

here and i've lived here my whole life

so and i cannot recall another

catastrophic event of this nature

in the last i'm going to say almost 100

years it's heartbreaking yeah it's

heartbreaking absolutely yeah

and lum believes this heartbreak never

had to happen i think it was preventable

and i think

it was predictable

i've participated in

[Music]

you know studies and panels where i've

raised the same concern it seems for the

last 10 to 15 years

there's going to be a time and a place

where

we're all going to be held accountable

for our role

[Music]

so who should be held accountable the

province sets the standards for dike

safety but local communities are the

ones that have to pay for it and in 2015

this map showed the majority of dikes

were in need of urgent repair you look

at the regional district and even though

it's a large geographic area you've

still got very very small service areas

with you know sometimes less than 100

people

it's absolutely asinine to think that

they could pay for a multi-million

dollar dike upgrade it's unfair to just

leave the responsibility to

this the local governments and the

regional governments we do not have the

capacity to handle it we have all these

local governments who are unfortunately

competing for the same resources and

they're doing exactly what they should

be doing fighting for their own

constituents in their own communities it

doesn't make sense to manage water

on the scale of the local government

in fact we found alarms have been raised

in report after report dozens in the

last two decades

in this 2015 study the province was

warned that none of the dikes assessed

in the lower mainland fully met the

provincial standard and that many could

be expected to fail during a large scale

flood

another in 2016 found that a major lower

mainland flood would be canada's most

costly natural disaster and in 2018 the

bc auditor general found diking

infrastructure will likely not be

sufficient in the face of increasing

flood risks

just this may tamson lyell wrote a

report for the bc government she says

bureaucrats told her to tone down her

findings

we said the flood risk governance system

in bc is broken and we

highly recommended that they take some

of the

authority back and also of course that

they fund these things better they said

can you take that out of our report

please

one of my proudest moments is that i

kept that line in that report and we

were asked to tone the language down and

i

didn't

in the bc capital victoria there's a

small team working for the province who

oversee dike safety and flood risk

lyle says they've also been sending

warning signals to their superiors

i know that these folks have been

banging their heads against a wall

for the last two three five years

trying to get the attention of

higher folks at the government on these

issues and it's a pretty thankless task

bc's ministry of forests oversees the

dyke safety office but our questions

were directed to deputy premier mike

farnworth mr farnworth i i want to ask

you about some decisions that have been

made or or not made in the past in bc in

2015 the province commissioned a report

on the state of dikes in the lower

mainland it assessed 74 dikes and found

that 96 of them did not meet the

provincial standard since that report

was published how many dikes have been

brought up to standard

well there has been an ongoing program

in terms of trying to bring

dikes up to up to standard for example

february this year we completed a survey

in terms of the dike uh what's called

the dike crest

to see where things are at there have

been investments in terms of of diking

of about 105 million dollars over the

last couple of years

at the same time there's also been

investment in terms of flood mapping to

get a much better understanding of the

nature of the flood risk in 2015 there

was a report commissioned by the

province that found the sumas river dike

was quote too low

substandard and needed to be updated

why wasn't it fixed

uh we have been had an ongoing

dike repairing and dike under on

investment program uh within the

provinces and said about 105 million

dollars along with additional uh flood

mapping uh and working with local

governments to get a a good

understanding

of the the nature of our dikes we've

spoken to municipality after

municipalities says that they've been

asking for more financial help from the

province and their cries for help have

not been answered what we have seen in

this province is an unprecedented

weather event

that none of the experts expected would

be the way that it was

and what i have also explained to you is

that the responsibility for diking was

transferred from the province

to local governments a number of years

ago

one of the lessons from this event

obviously is the need for continued

investment in dykes and in my view a

stronger role for the province in that

process

but for tamsin lyle that admission comes

far too late i mean the province has

known or has had or has had the capacity

to know because there's been reports on

this for

for decades if you are in a home that's

been flooded and you've lost your

your pictures you know your baby

pictures your grandparents heirlooms and

all of those things

it's incredibly emotional and it's so

frustrating and you feel so angry so

it's hard not to say something when you

know

that we knew this was coming

every day i just come here

park my truck here and watch see how

deep water goes now

if i can go back i just come here every

day

oh everything is underwater

when we come back i can't really put

people back in the community and then

trying to

uh evacuate them out of there in the

spring and then the creeks and that

where we're going to come out will be

swollen

so i don't need to have that heartache

of trying to

to rescue people again

[Music]

it's been 10 days since an atmospheric

river dumped record amounts of rainfall

on parts of bc

now the flood waters are slowly receding

and what they reveal illustrates the

challenges people face next

about 20 members of the shock and indian

band are now stranded in this work camp

part of the trans mountain pipeline

construction project we don't know when

we're going to go home yvonne joe is a

band counselor we live in a remote

community

but we call that home and

when i think about

leaving

we're also a very spiritual people

the day i drove out

i called on my ancestors

to take care of the land

and now we'd have a home to go home to

so it's very emotional it's a very

emotional time

this is what she and others left behind

40 kilometers north of merit the

community was still recovering from the

summer forest fires

after going from one climate calamity to

another

the valley that's been devastated is

down in that that route there band chief

arnold lampro says he doesn't know when

people can return home

realistically

i'm we're gonna wait until uh next

either may or june after the the the

spring runoff because i want to know

what uh what's going to happen

and i can't really put more people back

in the community and then trying to

evacuate them out of there in the spring

when the creeks and that where we're

going to come out we'll be swollen

so i don't need to have that heartache

of trying to

to rescue people again

so who will be there for them

and so many others in bc who have lived

through a year of chaos and survival

[Music]

and do governments at all levels now see

this calm after the storm as a time to

act decisively

what used to be a one in five hundred

year event is probably now a one in f in

fifty year event or a one in five year

event

they don't understand and appreciate

that scale and the pace of everything

has changed and this is just the

beginning of climate change i really

hope that we do this differently

next time

but i

also am cynical

having seen them not do it

the previous 20 times

[Music]

for tasman lyle there are no more

lessons to be learned the time to act is

now

it's just incredibly hard to see that we

didn't make good choices that would have

enabled the river to do what the river

needs to do but also allow us to live in

the space better

i know that we need to live here we

can't sterilize this

land it's you know one of the most

productive agricultural plots of land in

all of canada and it's people's homes

but we can do better than this

[Music]

and while governments calculate the

costs of a cleanup and compensation

what about the human cost of this

climate crisis

just knowing that we're not going to be

able to go back home

it's

is is devastating

and

they're talking about two years maybe

if that and they're going to change the

road

to get to home

and

i'm sorry

i'm sorry

[Music]

is this going to happen every year for

our kids

and our grandkids and our great

grandkids

[Music]

we don't know

but we have to do something

to slow down on the log and the mind

because that has a huge impact on mother

earth

and this is a message not only from

mother earth

but from the sacred water

that goes down

is

you better take care of me

or i can wipe you out in an instant

that's

what we've been told what the elders

were saying is

that's how powerful water can be

if you have a story you think needs to

be told send us your tips to fifth tips

at cbc.ca

for a more confidential way to contact

us visit our website at cbc.ca

fifth and click on secure drop

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do

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so

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you