‘It was pretty sketchy’: B.C. woman stranded in her car after major highways flooded, closed

A B.C. woman who was at a hockey tournament in Kelowna this weekend had to spend the night in her car Sunday after heavy rainfall closed the Coquihalla Highway.

Kimberly Hood and her family were stuck in Hope, forced to sleep in their vehicle.

Hood said they left Kelowna around 5 p.m. Sunday and took Highway 3 as a detour.

“Even before we hit Princeton, the road was starting to get washed out in certain places and even through Manning Park, the road was pretty treacherous. There was lots of debris, lots of cars pulled over with their hazards on,” she told Global News Monday.

They arrived in Hope at about 10 p.m., where there was no power and nowhere to go.

“The roads on the freeway were washed out in every which direction,” Hood added.

1:42 Flooding, mudslides trap 80-100 vehicles; Merritt, B.C. may need to be evacuated, Farnworth says

During the drive she said it was so dark, they could barely see the road in front of them.

“There were big boulders on the side of the road,” she said. “There was one car where its whole wheel was wrecked because I guess he hit the boulder on the side of the road. There was some snow and ice melt and everything and rock debris.

“It was pretty sketchy. There was a lot of cars on the side of the road.”

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In an update on the province’s response to the ongoing atmospheric river event on Monday morning, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said it is too early to determine the extent of the damage.

“We will have more on that as the day unfolds. This is a significant storm. Is it the largest? We do not know yet,” Farnworth said.

He updated the number of vehicles that were trapped in B.C.’s Fraser Valley because of landslides to 80 to 100 vehicles on Highway 7 near Agassiz, and said air rescue is being considered if needed, though it depends on the weather.

1:38 Flooding, slides force major B.C. highway closures

Hood said the one gas station in Hope was packed but luckily running off a generator.

They got gas, food and water and slept in their car for the night.

“We’ve been checking Drive BC constantly yesterday and today but we haven’t heard anything new,” she said.

Officials said they don’t know when the Coquihalla Highway, a major thoroughfare between B.C.’s Lower Mainland and the Interior that has suffered major mudslide damage, will reopen.

Hood said at the intersection of Flood Hope Road and Highway 1 there is such a big puddle that smaller cars will not be able to make it through.

They were in a truck so they were able to slowly drive through but they are still not home yet.