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Flowers are blooming in Martin O’Brien’s former home in Grand Forks, British Columbia, although no one lives there to care for them.
The whole neighborhood empties, all the way to the fire hydrants and to the last piece of pipe above and below ground. Some houses have been relocated, some have been selected by rescuers, and others, such as O’Brien’s, are expected to be demolished.
The 71-year-old stopped by to save several violets.
“My violets are beautiful and the tulips are already opening,” he said, digging them up and putting them in a pot for the small balcony of the new apartment he found in the nursing home a few minutes away.
O’Brien’s home was one of nearly 90 properties purchased or expropriated from the city after May floods in 2018 which flooded the North Ruckle neighborhood and much of downtown Grand Forks in the southern interior of British Columbia.
In May 2018, North Ruckle suffered severe material damage from intense floods. Heavy snow cover and several days of torrential downpours led to the overflow of local rivers. (Tina Lovegreen / CBC)
After years of resistance, he was one of the last to leave, forced to leave in February when the city expropriated his property.
Instead of rebuilding or protecting the neighborhood from future floods, Grand Forks has chosen a path that is likely to become more common with rising sea levels and more extreme weather due to climate change.
It’s called a “managed retreat” and it means that the people, their neighborhood and all the dreams they had for the land must come out – a return to the natural floodplain.
“It was a shock for the whole neighborhood to find that we had to be eliminated,” said O’Brien, sitting on the porch of his former home.
“I’ve been here for 30 years, but there have been some who have been here all their lives.”
He remains optimistic about the situation, but the process is painful in Grand Forks.
Now other cities in British Columbia – including Abbotsford, which will announce its plan on Monday – are forced to consider a managed retreat as they recover from extreme floods and landslides last November and prepare for what lies ahead.
A road was submerged during a flood in Abbotsford, British Columbia on November 15, 2021. On Monday, the city said officials would present a plan to the council on how to recover from those floods and prepare for future risks. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
“Feeling of mourning”
As climate change threatens residents and infrastructure, more people will be forced to relocate. A study from 2019 published in Nature estimates that without urgent emission reductions, some 300 million people are vulnerable to rising seawater worldwide.
In Canada, controlled withdrawal has previously been used in places where the likelihood of recurrent flooding is so high that it is considered the best option, such as High River, Alta., and Gatineau, Ke.
In Grand Forks, Mayor Brian Taylor said that when the waters receded, no problem.
“We really had to have a long-term solution, that strengthening the dike here and there or changing a few things really didn’t give us that security as a community entering this new climate uncertainty we needed,” he said. .
They decided to remove the neighborhood to make way for the nearby Kettle and Granby rivers to overflow and to build new dyke systems to protect the center and other areas.
The idea was controversial and led to protests, especially when residents were told that the compensation they would receive would be based on the value of their properties after the flood.
Eventually, the city increased compensation to residents to reduce the blow, although there had to be a deficit to do so.
Aside from the money, Taylor said, it was a painful process for friends and neighbors to suffer through.
“It was a community. It was a group of people who knew each other, supported each other, “he said, standing on the banks of the Kettle River, next to one of the boarded-up homes.
– There is a feeling of mourning.
Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor says many residents are happy to see that the mitigation project is being worked on, but that it has been a difficult process to get to. (Curtis Allen / CBC)
O’Brien said the grief is compounded by the way the neighborhood has been eradicated, without enough alternative housing and financial, legal and even traumatic support. That left many feeling like a prime number, he said.
“They talked about sustainability, as if it were something that was a common denominator. Everyone had it and everyone had the same amount. That is not the case, “he said.
He hopes there are lessons to be learned from his community, whose flood mitigation plan is seen by some as a precedent in the province.
Grand Forks recently sent calls from other cities devastated by floods and mudslides last November that destroyed highways and saw up to 20,000 people forced to flee their homes.
The flood of Abbotsford Sumas Prairie lasted three weeks, destroying blueberries and other crops and killing thousands of animals. Flooded agricultural land can be seen here on December 3, 2021 (Maggie MacPherson / CBC)
Abbotsford is considering a managed retreat
In Abbotsford, 70 kilometers east of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley, this November flood blocked Highway 1 and covered the Sumas Prairie, a lush farmland that produces half of the province’s milk, eggs and dairy products.
The mayor of Abbotsford said repairs and improvements made after last year’s floods left residents better protected than before, but more needs to be done, especially given climate change.
“We can experience this again in November, and this is a concern, a great concern, which is why we are pushing so hard to develop this plan,” said Henry Brown.
This is complicated by the fact that much of the Sumas prairie was once a lake until it was drained in the 1920s to create some of the most valuable agricultural land in the province. A series of dikes and a pumping station work day and night to keep the lake out.
Barrottown’s Abbotsford pumping station on December 10, 2021. During the height of the flood, she was rescued by a group of volunteers who piled up sand to ensure it would not be flooded and stop working. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
The city consults with residents of four options which ranged from $ 200 million to $ 2.8 billion:
- Option 1: Improvements to the pumping station and repair of a damaged dike in November.
- Option 2: All of the above, plus an additional pumping station on the Sumas River.
- Option 3: All of the above, plus expanding floods by moving dikes, which may require buying property in it and expanding dikes along the border.
- Option 4: All of the above, except for a narrower water supply and three additional pumping stations.
On Monday, the city said staff would recommend a combination of options 2, 3 and 4 – the latter preferred by most Sumas Prairie residents. The specifics and price have not been announced, but will include excavation at the border and four new pumping stations.
Abbotsford Mayor Henry Brown says flood mitigation should have been improved decades ago. In addition to the options the city has offered him, he wants cooperation from other levels of government on things like dredging rivers. (Dylan Hodgin / CBC)
Options 3 and 4, which will be part of the proposed plan, include the possibility of a managed withdrawal with the purchase of certain properties. Currently, the city does not say how many properties may be affected.
“If you are one of these farmers, it’s hard on their ears. “I had some challenging conversations, but our common function as a council is to protect our citizens and the farming community,” Brown said. “There are a lot of things here that are played at once.”
Culdip Gill doesn’t like what he sees.
“I don’t like any idea the city has,” Gill said, overlooking his 14-hectare farm. “I don’t want anyone to touch my berry to put a pond or something right here. I don’t want that.”
Culdip Gill worries that his farm may have to be bought to become a floodplain. He wants the city to consider other options, such as better maintenance of ditches and gutters to help prevent future floods. (Susanna da Silva / CBC)
He bought his property seven years ago and spent millions on a new house. In November, its levels were below one meter of water.
“This is my dream. If I [retire] “I want to stay in this peaceful area and my land,” he said.
Young blueberry bushes damaged by last year’s flood. (Susanna da Silva / CBC)
Should we return the lake?
But some are concerned that the options under consideration are not enough to allow rivers to rise.
Tamsin Lyle, a flood management engineer and consultant, has studied floods in the region for more than two decades.
“The options that are currently on the table are very focused on the status quo – so let’s do things we’ve been doing for the last 50 years, but make them a little bigger.”
Lyle says he is aware of the urgency, but fears politicians are being forced to act without taking into account the bigger consequences, from fish habitat to dike policy on the US border.
“It may be too fast because we rely on things we know haven’t worked in the past,” she said.
“We need to look at our large toolbox of options.”
For her, this includes the question of whether the former Lake Sumas should be allowed to flood Sumas Prairie again.
WATCH 100 years ago Sumas Prairie was a lake and could be again:
The 100-year-old decision that contributed to the floods in Abbotsford, British Columbia
More than 100 years ago, a lake outside what is now Abbotsford, British Columbia, was drained to create lucrative farmland. Many say the decision has made a major contribution to the devastating floods.
Local first nations also want to see a process that draws everyone to the table.
Tyrone McNeill is the head of the Stó: lō tribal council, representing …
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