‘Watch and see’: Grand Forks, B.C. preparing for rising waters

The risk of flooding continues to threaten many communities throughout the province. In Grand Forks, B.C., that threat has already forced some residents out of their homes and the city is doing its best to mitigate any potential damage flooding could bring.

The Granby and Kettle rivers continue to rise in Grand Forks, bringing flooding concerns to some areas and the city isn’t yet sure how it will unfold for its residents.

“We’re really in a wait, watch and see. We know that there’s potential for rain around midnight on Friday, so we’re watching that,” said Grand Forks mayor Everett Baker.

Since the beginning of the week, the city, with the support of the provincial government, has been working to keep the water out.

“We put out over 1,000 feet of tiger dam in South Ruckle. The 2018 flood, we lost North Ruckle and a number of homes. So we’re trying to protect homes that are there, plus it is the back entrance to the downtown core as well,” Baker said.

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The city isn’t the only ones preparing, people living near the river have taken matters into their own hands.

“We’re sandbagging the perimeter of my sister-in-law’s house. Inside she’s already taken any valuables that are on the floor and put them in a higher elevation,” said Andres Dean.

Other residents only living a few houses down, don’t share the same concerns and aren’t too worried about the water creeping up on their homes.

“It’s got a long way to go before it reaches 2018 levels. 2018 levels were up to about 14 inches on that hot tub. As I say, it’s just barely on our beach now,” said Gord Boyce.

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Those levels are exactly what the Grand Forks mayor is trying to avoid and mitigate the damage as much as the city can.

“My family lost their home in the flood in 2018, along with many others. We’re trying not to have that repeated and that would be my goal,” Baker said.

As of Thursday, a few dozen properties have been placed on an evacuated order or alert, and Baker says that number may grow by the weekend.

“I’m hoping that the work that we’ve done will allow us not to have to do that anymore. We control a lot but, we can’t control the weather and it’s very difficult for us to control the weather,” he said.

A full list of evacuation orders and alerts is available on the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary’s website.