Twice now, Abbotsford has experienced what can be described as catastrophic flooding events. The losses of these events are still being felt. Earlier this year the BC Supreme Court approved a Class Action lawsuit, filed by 1,400 Abbotsford property owners in the Sumas Prairie flood plain, to recover losses from the City of Abbotsford. While that court action continues, it is fair to analyze the City’s actions during these events to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
History
- In 2015, the BC Dike Assessment warned that the Sumas dike was “substandard”.
- In 2017, Abbotsford executed seismic and structural assessments on its existing dikes.
- In 2018, the Drainage Master Plan identified the critical nature of the dikes.
- Additionally, in the same year, the BC Dikes Failure Consequence Classification Framework completed a major multi-year study that assessed the Sumas dike as a “High” Consequence Dike.
All of these reports were presented to City Council.
In 2021, following the floods, when a Councillor of the day was asked why no action was taken in light of these reports, their response was also “substandard” when they said “…we had other priorities.”
When the dike gave way and the Nooksack overflowing onto the Sumas Prairie was imminent, the Mayor decided to not raise an alarm or issue any advanced warnings. It is only good fortune that his decision didn’t result in the loss of human life. Who knows how many of the estimated 600,000 farm animals that perished might have been saved if the City had taken the warnings seriously. The financial catastrophe was estimated at nearly $2 billion.
Following the floods, repairs began on the dike, work on the Barrowtown Pump Station undertaken and a Flood Mitigation Plan was underway.
Then 2025 happened.
Another flood we were not ready for. 500 families displaced. Millions more in damage. This time warnings and evacuation orders issued.
So, why did it happen again?
This is where the finger pointing begins.
Everyone blames Washington State for not dealing with the overflowing Nooksack. The City of Abbotsford blames the Province and the Federal Government for not funding these upgrades.
It is much simpler.
In 2020, the City of Abbotsford’s own Flood Mitigation Report assessed the cost of bringing the dikes up to standard. The lowest range of protection costing $29 million and the very best improvement in repairs, height of dikes and local system upgrades would cost $339 million.
Nothing was done.
If you review the City of Abbotsford’s 2020 Financial Statements, you’ll see there is a cash holding of $312 million.
Warned repeatedly…and with more than enough money on hand to get started protecting the people of Abbotsford…but they had “other priorities”.
We’d love to know what that list was because they weren’t building any major projects. That cash is still in City coffers.
How do we move forward?
In July 2023, the City of Abbotsford applied for Federal Funding and was denied. So, we’re now doing what could be said is the bare minimum. Work on Barrowtown continues, but we still haven’t seen any major improvements in the dike system.
Should the City of Abbotsford pay for those upgrades? Provincial and Federal representatives have both said that if the City of Abbotsford wants funding, it needs to contribute. Since we don’t seem to be prepared to do that, why would the Province and Feds fund our project when so many other cities in Canada will make that partnership investment? The fund we were denied is a competitive application process…and the City of Abbotsford was denied.
Now you know the facts about the Abbotsford Floods, maybe it’s time to think about making some substitutions at the Council table. When your team is losing every game, it’s time to rebuild with some new players.
We asked ChatGPT “Is Abbotsford prepared in the event of a new flood event of the Nooksack River”. Here was the response:
“Abbotsford is better prepared to respond to another Nooksack flood than it was in 2021, while the region is not yet fully protected against a major repeat event.”
The message is plain. We can no longer afford “other priorities”, and we can’t afford “inaction”. On October 17th, please vote and use your vote wisely. It might be time for a whole new team.