Spring flood worries for B.C. Indigenous community still reeling from November storm

Some members of the Shackan Indian Band still can't return to their homes due to damage from November's floods, as spring creeps closer bringing the threat of more high water.

Nearly four months after floodwaters tore down the Nicola Valley, a number of homes on Shackan Indian Band lands remain largely inaccessible, and the families who lived in them say they’re unsure if they’ll ever be able to return.

“The atmospheric river can seem like old news to a lot of people, but for us we’re not out of the woods yet,” Shackan Band community wellness manager Lenora Starr told Global News.

“As the snow is melting we’re seeing the true impacts in all of the debris and all of the damage that’s been done to the landscape,” Starr said.

Seven households on the south side of the Nicola River near Merritt, B.C., remain under an evacuation order due to a bridge that was washed away. More than 100 days since the storm struck, Starr is among those who still can’t go home.

November’s devastating floods came on the heels of an already emotional national reckoning on the legacy of Canada’s residential schools and a wildfire season that saw residents of the area evacuated.

With spring rapidly approaching, community members are also now growing apprehensive that they could face more flooding, before they’ve had a chance to recover from the last disaster.

“I worry about what’s going to happen in spring with freshet and if it’s going to wash those homes away that are on the south side,” Starr said.

“It’s really trauma upon trauma upon trauma.”