‘Pretty emotional’: Nooaitch First Nation grapples with isolation, impact of B.C. floods
Global News
The Nooaitch First Nation has been isolated by the floods in B.C. this week, which destroyed all of the bridges connecting the community to commercial supplies.
Nooaitch First Nation member Ko’waintco Michel has been separated from her family for four days.
The only bridges leading to her community in southern British Columbia collapsed on Monday, under the weight of floods and debris generated by two days of torrential rain.
“I left the community to go into town to gather a few things,” she told Global News.
“I was only gone maybe a couple of hours. When I got down to the turnoff where our bridge goes into our community, it already had fallen.”
Between Nov. 14 and 15, an atmospheric river drenched the southern part of the province, swallowing houses, cars and critical infrastructure.
One person has died, four people are missing, and thousands have been displaced.
Nooaitch First Nation is in the Southern Interior of B.C., roughly 20 kilometres east of Merritt.
When Michel left the community on Monday, she was uncertain whether the band would order an evacuation. She left for Merritt with her two sons just before the bridges collapsed.
