More than 180 people in Abbotsford, B.C., have been rescued by water or air due to flooding, according to city officials.
The City of Abbotsford on Tuesday night urged all residents remaining in the Sumas Prairie to leave immediately.
Mayor Henry Braun said crews are working to protect the Barrowtown Pump Station, which is facing a surge of water from Washington state’s Nooksack River.
“The Barrowtown Pump Station is operating at its full capacity, but was never intended or designed to take on water from another country,” Braun said.
Another 300 residents remain stranded in the area.
No one was unaccounted for, said Abbotsford Police Chief Mike Serr.
Officials reiterated Wednesday that anyone in the affected area needs to leave immediately. Those who are unable to leave should call 911 for support.
Late Wednesday morning, Abbotsford police said an evacuation order for Huntingdon Village and the area west of Sumas Way between the U.S. border to Lonzo Road has been rescinded. Those areas are now under an evacuation alert.
Braun said the city decided not to activate the provincial Alert Ready system for all of Abbotsford.
“We didn’t want to alarm the whole city,” he said.
Braun said weather conditions have improved.
“I feel much better today than I did last night,” he said Wednesday.
The Fraser River has dropped two metres over the past 24 hours, Braun said, and if the river continues to drop, it could relieve pressure on the pump station.
“My prayer has been that the river will drop another metre or more, let us open up those floodgates, that will buy us some more time,” Braun said.
“But if we had another weather event like we just went through, we are in deep doo-doo.”
Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says they have approved the deployment of Canadian Forces air support to assist B.C. in the wake of the floods and landslides.
–with files from Amy Judd, Toby Kerr and The Canadian Press
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