Almost three years after devastating floodwaters forced people to flee and washed away homes, bridges and highways, the City of Merritt, B.C., is moving ahead with plans to shore up its flood defences.
The first steel beams of the new Middlesboro Bridge were lifted into position on Monday, symbolically reconnecting both banks of the Coldwater River. The city also broke ground on a new dike installation along the Public Works yard.
The previous bridge on Voght Street was destroyed and the dike system was overwhelmed in November 2021 when flooding brought on by three atmospheric rivers caused the Coldwater River to burst its banks. The town of 7,000 was evacuated.
Merritt Mayor Michael Goetz says seeing the bridge come together will hopefully help the community heal.
“It’s really needed. It’s going to be a confidence booster for the entire community when that bridge is done and open and it’s higher, bigger, better. You know, it’s very exciting,” he said.
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“This is a a success story because everybody managed to work together — First Nations, the government, the city.”
The original bridge was built to withstand 150 cubic metres of water impact per second, well below the 320 cubic metres per second of the 2021 floods. The new bridge is around 1.5 metres higher and built to withstand up to 490 cubic metres of water per second, or what the province believes is a one-in-200-year flood.
“Having a resilient bridge that will not wash away, that will have an active transportation path on it and that people won’t have to worry about the future is a really big win for the city and really will start the healing process,” said Sean Strang, director of flood recovery and mitigation for the City of Merritt.
With $9.6 million in funding, Goetz says the bridge will be completely paid for by provincial dollars.
It’s expected to open in December.
In 2021, the Coldwater River rose two and a half times higher than previous flood levels, far beyond the capacity of the existing dike and just this past January, unseasonable warm temperatures resulted in ice breaking up and jamming the river, almost flooding the wastewater plant.
A September 2023 report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found the B.C. government failed to act decisively when told Merritt’s dikes were at risk of failing due to years of neglect.
The new dike will be the facility’s first line of defence, and officials say both projects moving ahead is a major relief.
“To be able to move on, and start thinking about what our future is, how we protect ourselves in the future from it ever happening again, I think that’s really healthy for people,” Strang said.
Strang says Monday’s announcement was about the wins the city has seen, but there are still challenges to overcome to build the new dike system.
The federal government has promised $45.5 million for about three kilometres of the system, but the province needs to fork out another $21.7 million to buy private land for the north part of the project.
— with files from The Canadian Press