B.C. farmers hail flood recovery near 1-year anniversary but concerns remain

When a dike was breached and floodwaters started to flow across Sumas Prairie, B.C., a year ago, poultry farmer Corry Spitters said all he could do was let nature take its course.

When a dike was breached and floodwaters started to flow across British Columbia’s Sumas Prairie a year ago, poultry farmer Corry Spitters said all he could do was let nature take its course.

A feeling of helplessness gripped him as the encroaching water engulfed his farm’s 21 barns – 200,000 of his chickens drowned, he said.

“You stand there and Mother Nature takes control,” said Spitters, 67. “What can you do? The water comes in and there’s nothing you can do.”

All he could think about as the rising water claimed his chickens was, “Thank God we’re not drowning (too),” he said in an interview.

Record rains borne by an atmospheric river last November swamped southwest B.C., inundated farmland, washed out major highways and railways and forced thousands of residents to flee.

Five people died in what the Insurance Bureau of Canada ranks as B.C.’s most costly weather event, with insured losses of $675 million.

Marking the anniversary of the disaster, provincial officials spent the past week touting rebuilding and recovery. The government said permanent repairs to the dikes were expected to be complete by next month, most dairy and poultry farms were “back to normal,” and Highway 8 had reopened to the public after being washed out in 25 places.

But any sense of optimism is tempered by an awareness from climate experts and residents alike that the next big storm could come sooner rather than later.