Crews still assessing damage in Merritt a week after devastating flood

'Streets have been damaged. The Middlesborough Bridge has collapsed. The river has been re-routed. Unfortunately, homes and vehicles have been destroyed,' says Mayor Linda Brown.

Dozens of volunteers were on the ground in Merritt on Sunday conducting a damage assessment of homes in the flood-ravaged community.

An estimated 7,000 residents were evacuated from the city, some due to flooding, and others because the city’s drinking and wastewater systems were rendered inoperable by the flood.

“The south of the city looks different from how you last saw it. Streets have been damaged. The Middlesborough Bridge has collapsed. The river has been re-routed. And unfortunately homes and vehicles have been destroyed,” Mayor Linda Brown said in a Saturday evening video update.

Volunteers worked as quickly as possible Saturday to assess the safety of homes according to a colour-coded system, she said.

Once the city has been deemed safe, residents of “green” coded homes will be granted access to their properties, while residents of “yellow” coded homes will get instructions on next steps.

“Those owners of ‘red’ properties will unfortunately likely remain evacuated for an extended period of time. When you come home, Merritt will not look how it did when you left,” she said.

Emergency planners with the city are working on a plan to rescind evacuation orders for parts of the city not directly hit by floodwaters, Brown said.

That can’t happen until the city’s water systems are brought back online.