Mayor of Merritt says some residents could return home to flood-ravaged city in a matter of days

Some residents of Merritt, B.C., will be returning to their homes this week after the entire city's population was forced to flee due to extreme flooding that caused the complete failure of the municipality's wastewater system last Monday.

Relentless rain caused the Coldwater River, which runs through the Southern Interior community, to overrun its banks Nov. 15, triggering an evacuation order for all 7,000 residents shortly after 7 a.m.

In a video statement posted to social media Sunday, Merritt Mayor Linda Brown said staff have completed rapid damage assessments of all properties and the city is ready to start rolling out its return-to-home plan.

"We will be able to bring some of you home in a few days," said Brown.

A city statement says about 50 volunteers spent the weekend assessing the damage of properties in the flood inundation area with support from B.C. Housing, Merritt's building inspection and fire departments, the City of Kamloops and the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

Based on this work, Brown said each property has been assigned a red, yellow or green status. The city is now developing a plan to allow access to "green" properties and will provide information to owners of "yellow" properties regarding further required steps before access is permitted. 

Owners of "red" properties will likely remain evacuated for an extended period.

"Every day brings us a little closer to rebuilding our community," said Brown, who noted residents should expect more information Monday about finding out the status of their property and what it means. 

Brown said city staff are also close to getting the wastewater system up and running again. 

She said a testing laboratory stayed open in Kelowna over the weekend just to help out.

Water samples are being tested for total coliforms and E. coli. Samples take 24 hours to process and before the city can update its water status, it must submit multiple samples from different places, taken at different times.

"The results so far are good, but we need to bring more of the system online," said Brown.

The evacuation order was issued two hours after city officials put out an alert asking citizens to immediately stop using water or flushing toilets.

"How do you run a city when no one can go to the bathroom?" said Greg Lowis, Merritt information officer.